Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service

The complainant asked the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (the “public authority”) to provide board minutes and papers for a specific time period. The public authority refused to disclose these stating the request was exempt by virtue of the exclusions under sections 14(1) (vexatious requests) and 14(2) (repeated requests) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the “Act”). The Commissioner has considered the submissions of both parties and has determined that the public authority’s application of sections 14(1) and (2) was incorrect. The complaint is therefore upheld. The public authority’s handling of the request also resulted in breaches of certain procedural requirements of the Act as identified in this Notice.