Information Commissioner's Office

Department for Work and Pensions

8 June 2015, Central government

The complainant requested information using Twitter relating to a claim made by the DWP’s Press Office about Universal Jobmatch. The DWP responded to the complainant via email and stated that no relevant information was held. The Commissioner’s decision is that the DWP is incorrect to state that no relevant information is held, which is a breach of section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). The DWP also breached section 10 of the Act as it did not respond to the request within the statutory time limit. However, the Commissioner finds that the DWP did not breach section 11 of the Act by refusing to provide a response via Twitter. The Commissioner requires the public authority to issue a new response to the complainant’s request which complies with section 1(1) of the Act, or issue a valid refusal notice. The public authority must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court. This decision notice is currently under appeal to the Tribunal.

FOI 1: Upheld FOI 10: Upheld