Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

The complainant wrote to Wirral Borough Council (the “council”) and requested the following information: information relating to the budget and staffing of the council’s Legal Services department between 2005 and 2010. The Information Commissioner’s (the “Commissioner”) decision is that the council did not deal with the request for information in accordance with the FOIA in the following way: it failed to provide a response to the request within the statutory time frame of 20 working days. The Commissioner requires the council to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the FOIA: to confirm or deny whether the requested information is held. If information is held, either provide it or issue a valid refusal notice as set out in the FOIA.