New Waltham Parish Council

The complainant has requested information relating to payments made to the Clerk by 6 parish councils and associated information. New Waltham Parish Council (‘the council’), on behalf of all 6 councils, provided some information, stated that some information had already been provided as a result of a previous request and that some information was available to the complainant as a Parish Councillor to the council. It also applied the personal data exemption at section 40(2) of the FOIA to some of the requested information. The Commissioner’s decision is that the council has correctly applied the exemptions at section 21(1) and 40(2) of the FOIA and, on the balance of probabilities, does not hold any further information. However, the Commissioner has also decided that the council did not provide an adequate response to part of the request. In relation to the telephone costs requested at point 2 of the request, the Commissioner requires the public authority to issue a fresh response under the FOIA which specifically states whether or not the information is held.