North Yorkshire County Council

The complainant has requested information in two requests concerning the assessments and reasons surrounding decisions to charge his now deceased sister in respect of her social care arrangements with North Yorkshire County Council (the council). The council initially responded withholding the information under section 14 and section 42 of the FOIA as it considered the requests to be vexatious, and some of the information to be covered by legal professional privilege. During the Commissioner’s investigation, the council also sought to rely on section 41 as the information was confidential. The Commissioner’s decision is that the council was entitled to rely on section 14 not to comply with the requests. However, in responding to one of the requests outside the 20 working day time frame, the Commissioner finds that the council failed to comply with section 10. The Commissioner does not require the council to take any steps in this case. This decision notice is currently under appeal to the Tribunal.