12 May 2015, Local government (District council)
The complainant requested information from Cornwall Council (“the council”) relating to a particular property. The council transferred the requests to Cornwall Housing Limited (“Cornwall Housing”). Cornwall Housing provided some information but subsequently said that the requests were vexatious under section 14(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the FOIA”). The complainant argued that the information was held by the council. The Commissioner decided that the council was wrong to claim that the information requested would only be held by Cornwall Housing for the purposes of the FOIA. The Commissioner therefore investigated whether any additional information was held by the council beyond that already made available. The Commissioner found that further information was held by the council. The Commissioner found breaches of section 1(1)(a), 1(1)(b) and 10(1) of the FOIA for the failure to confirm that information was held and to provide it within 20 working days. There are no steps to take.
FOI 1: Upheld FOI 10: Upheld FOI 14: Upheld