Sheffield City Council
- Date 26 August 2014
- Sector Local government
- Decision(s) FOI 17: Upheld, FOI 40: Not upheld
The complainant submitted a request to Sheffield City Council (the Council) concerning a complaint he had previously submitted to the Council about the conduct of particular members of staff. The Council refused to confirm or deny whether it held the requested information citing sections 40, 41 and 38 of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that under FOIA the Council was not obliged to confirm whether or not it held the requested information on the basis of section 40(5)(a). However, the Council breached section 17(1) of FOIA by failing to issue the complainant with a refusal notice within 20 working days.