Information Commissioner's Office

Department of Finance and Personnel NI

13 January 2015, Central government

The complainant has requested correspondence relating to the extension of the TaxSmart scheme to include rail travel in Northern Ireland. The Department of Finance and Personnel has failed to respond to the request. At the time of issuing this decision notice the Department had not provided the complainant with a substantive response to the request.  The Commissioner’s decision is therefore that the public authority has failed to respond to the complainant’s request within the statutory timescale. The Commissioner requires the public authority provide the complainant with a substantive response to his information request. If the public authority decides to refuse to confirm or deny that the requested information is held, or to withhold any information, then a refusal notice should be issued that complies with the requirements of section 17 of the FOIA.

FOI 1: Upheld FOI 10: Upheld FOI 17: Upheld