Ref 2. Northwood Cemetery Correspondence (Feb 08)


back

On 1st Feb 2008 I asked for, amongst other items, copies of any correspondence with Enterprise plc referring to grounds maintenance work at the cemetery since April 2007.  No copies of any correspondence was supplied and I was not told whether or not LBH held such information. After fruitlessly complaining to LBH’s Information Officer I submitted a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO subsequently wrote to LBH reminding them that: 

“... the Council has an obligation under section 1(1) of the FOIA to state in writing whether it holds information that has been requested (this obligation is often referred to as the duty to confirm or deny). Section 1(1)(a)  states:

“Any person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled – (a) to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds information of the description specified in the request…

The Council did not state in its initial response whether it held information of the description specified in the  request...

It will therefore not be necessary to take any further action as we trust that the Council will in future state whether it holds information in accordance with section 1(1).”

 The Council has subsequently confirmed that it did not   the correspondence I had requested at the time my request was made.

This case was also referred to in the letter from an ICO Enforcemnt Officer of 3rd June 2009 as evidence of LBH’s wder practice of failing to “confirm or deny”

Text of complaint to Information Commissioner
Text of response from  Information Commissioner