Islington Council

The complainant submitted a number of requests to the London Borough of Islington (the Council) concerning the removal of business rate relief from charities. The Council provided some information in response to the requests but sought to withhold further information on the basis of section 12, section 40 and on the basis that for some of the requests it had in fact provided all of the information it held. The complainant disputed the Council’s application of these two sections and also argued that further information was held in respect of certain requests. The Commissioner’s decision is as follows: The Council does not hold any further information falling within the scope of requests 1, 2, 3 and 6 beyond that already provided to the complainant. The Council is entitled to rely on section 12 of FOIA in relation to requests 4 and 5. The Council is entitled to rely on section 40 of FOIA in respect of the information falling within the scope of requests 7 and 8 that has been withheld. The Commissioner does not require the Commissioner to take any steps.