Norwich City Council

The complainant requested information about the award of contracts to a company. The request was refused on the grounds that the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeded the statutory cost limit. During the Commissioner’s investigation, the complainant refined his request and the public authority disclosed the information described in that refined request to the complainant. The Commissioner’s decision is that Norwich City Council did not produce a satisfactory estimate of its costs for compliance with the request, and was therefore unable to rely on the provisions of section 12 of FOIA in refusing the request on the grounds of the cost for compliance with the request. During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation, the complainant submitted a refined request. As the information in the refined request has now been disclosed, the Commissioner does not require the public authority to take any steps.