Information Commissioner's Office

Belsay School

23 October 2017, Education (School)

In two requests, the complainants have requested information about particular meeting minutes, and admission numbers.  With regard to the first request, Belsay School (‘the School’) released some information and suggested that it holds no further relevant information.  The School indicated that it did not hold the information requested in the second request but then went on to release this information to the complainants. With regard to Request 1, the Commissioner’s decision is as follows: 1.1 – The School has, on the balance of probabilities, now released all the relevant information it holds and has complied with section 1(1) of the FOIA.  1.2 – The School has breached section 1(1)(a) of the FOIA as it has not confirmed to the complainants whether it does or does not hold information within the scope of this part. 1.3 – The School has correctly applied section 40(2) to the information it holds and has withheld, because it is the personal data of third persons and it would be unfair to release it. The School breached section 10(1) with regard to 1.1 as it did not comply with section 1(1) within the 20 working day requirement.  The School has also breached section 10(1) with regard to 1.2 as it has not complied with section 1(1)(a) with regard to this part. With regard to Request 2, the Commissioner’s decision is that: the School breached section 1(1)(a) as it did not clearly communicate to the complainants whether or not it held the requested information; and that the School breached section 10(1) because it did not comply with both elements of section 1(1) within 20 working days. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following step to ensure compliance with the legislation: Issue a response to request 1.2 that satisfies the requirements of section 1(1).

FOI 1: Partly upheld FOI 10: Upheld FOI 40: Not upheld