Information Commissioner's Office

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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Information Commissioner's Office >> Birmingham City Council (Local government) [2020] UKICO fs50856435 (1 July 2020)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKICO/2020/fs50856435.html
Cite as: [2020] UKICO fs50856435

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Birmingham City Council

The complainant has requested information about a meeting held between Birmingham City Council and West Midlands Police about the ‘Trojan Horse Letter’. The Council responded, stating no information was held, but later changed its position and applied section 12 (costs limit) to the request. The Commissioner’s decision is that Birmingham City has breached section 16 of the FOIA by failing to engage with the complainant to clarify the nature and scope of the request. Until this is done, she is unable to consider the Council’s arguments for the application of section 12. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: Engage with the complainant to clarify the request, and if necessary, provide advice and assistance to bring the request within the costs limit, taking note of the Commissioner’s comments on Boolean searches. 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.

FOI 16: Complaint upheld

Decision notice: fs50856435