Department of Finance Northern Ireland

The complainant requested information relating to expenses claimed by the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Finance. The Department relied on section 22 of the FOIA to refuse the request, but the Commissioner’s decision is that the request as submitted was not clear, and the Department failed to request clarification from the complainant. Therefore the Commissioner has not made a decision with regard to section 22, although she finds that the Department failed to comply with section 1(1)(a), section 10(1) and section 17 of the FOIA.  The Commissioner requires the Department to clarify the scope of the request and issue a fresh response.