Information Commissioner's Office

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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Information Commissioner's Office >> Tintagel Parish Council (Local government) [2022] UKICO ic-65371 (11 January 2022)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKICO/2022/ic-65371.html
Cite as: [2022] UKICO ic-65371

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Tintagel Parish Council

The complainant submitted a multi-part request for financial information to Tintagel Parish Council (TPC). TPC initially refused the request as vexatious within the meaning of section 14 of the FOIA. It later withdrew reliance on section 14 and disclosed some information to the complainant. However, it said it was unable to ascertain whether it held any further information falling within the request’s scope, as some information relating to parish council business was not currently in its physical possession. The Commissioner is not satisfied that TPC has conducted sufficiently comprehensive and rigorous searches in order to locate all the information it holds which falls within the scope of the request. By failing to properly ascertain whether or not it holds the information specified in each part of the request, and inform the complainant accordingly, TPC breached section 1(1)(a) of the FOIA.  By failing to provide this confirmation or denial within the statutory time for compliance, TPC breached section 10(1) of the FOIA. The Commissioner requires TPC to issue a fresh response to the request under the FOIA, confirming whether or not the information specified in points (3) – (7) of the request is held by TPC for the purposes of the FOIA. With the exception of the information which has already been disclosed, if information is held, it should be disclosed unless a non-disclosure exemption applies or complying with the request would exceed the appropriate cost limit at section 12 of the FOIA, in which case these provisions should be explained.

FOI 10: Complaint upheld FOI 1: Complaint upheld

Decision notice: ic-65371