29 June 2015, Local government (Other)
The complainant requested information about Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations complaints received by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). In its response, the ICO said that some of the requested information is exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) (personal information) and that some is exempt under section 31 (law enforcement). This is a qualified exemption and on 11 March the ICO told the complainant that it intended to carry out a public interest test in respect of the section 31 exemption. The ICO therefore extended the response time and subsequently said it expected to provide a full and final response by 30 April 2015. It provided a final response on 7 May. The Commissioner has reviewed how this request was handled and his decision is that the ICO has breached section 17(3) of the FOIA. The ICO has now provided a response and the Commissioner does not therefore require it to take the any further steps.
FOI 10: Upheld FOI 17: Upheld FOI 40: Not upheld