Department for Communities (Northern Ireland)

The complainant has requested information from the Department for Communities Northern Ireland (‘the DfC’) regarding the number of complaints it had received against a particular DA (‘Disability Assessor’). The DfC refused to comply with the request and citied section 40(5)(b)(a)(i) of the FOIA as a basis for this. The Commissioner’s decision is that the DfC was entitled to rely on section 40(5)(b)(a)(i) FOIA as the basis for not complying with the duty set out in section 1(1)(a) FOIA to either confirm or deny whether the requested information is held. The Commissioner requires no steps to be taken.