Information Commissioner's Office

Northumberland County Council

9 November 2017, Local government (County council)

The complainant has requested information from Northumberland County Council which concerns asbestos and asbestos-containing materials occurring at the complainant’s rented property. During the course of its correspondence with the complainant the Council disclosed a number of documents which it considered were relevant to her requests. Following the Commissioner’s intervention, the Council found additional information which falls within the terms of the complainant’s requests. Having reconsidered the nature of that information the Council determined that it constitutes the complainant’s personal data and therefore her requests under the EIR should be refused in reliance on Regulation 5(3). The Commissioner’s decision is that Northumberland County Council is entitled to refuse the complainant’s requests by virtue of Regulation 5(3) of the EIR, on the grounds that the information the Council has recently found is the complainant’s personal data. The Commissioner understands that the Council will invite the complainant to submit a subject access request for her personal data under section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998.

EIR 5(3): Not upheld