Warwickshire County Council

The complainants asked Warwickshire County Council whether it had received any fees or advantage as a result of introducing its employees to a particular pension scheme. The public authority issued a refusal notice 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 Commissioner has considered the submissions of both parties and has determined that the public authority’s application of section 14(1) was properly applied; however he finds that section 14(2) was not engaged. The complaint is therefore partly 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. Information Tribunal appeal number EA/2011/0134 dismissed.