College of Policing

The complainant requested information from the College of Policing (‘COP’) relating to complaints, grievances and whistleblowing. COP refused to comply with the request as it said that to confirm or deny whether or not it holds any information would exceed the cost limit at section 12(2) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that COP was correct to apply section 12(2) of FOIA and that it was not therefore obliged to comply with the request. It also complied with its duty under section 16 FOIA to provide the complainant with appropriate advice and assistance. However, by failing to issue its refusal notice within the statutory time limit of 20 working days, COP breached section 17(1) of FOIA. The Commissioner requires no steps to be taken.