Cumbria County Council

The complainant has requested information with regards to complaints Cumbria County Council (the council) had received. The council provided some information and advised other information requested was not held. During the Commissioner’s investigation, the council amended its response to part of the request from ‘not held’ to instead rely on section 12 of the FOIA to refuse to respond. The complainant was not satisfied with the council’s section 12 refusal and the time it took to refuse it. The Commissioner’s decision is that the council is able to rely on section 12 of the FOIA but has breached section 17(5) of the FOIA in issuing the refusal notice outside the required timeframe. As the council has now issued its refusal, the Commissioner does not require it to take any steps.