Thanet District Council

The complainant has requested copies of reports which were presented to an extraordinary meeting of Thanet District Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Panel on 15 October 2014.  The Council originally refused the request under section 42(1)(legal professional privilege) of the FOIA, additionally applying section 44(1)(c)(prohibitions on disclosure – disclosure would constitute or be punishable as a contempt of court) at internal review.  During the Commissioner’s subsequent investigation the Council applied section 14(1)(vexatious request) to refuse the request.  The Commissioner has concluded that Thanet District Council was entitled to refuse to comply with the request on the basis of section 14(1).  The Commissioner however found that the public authority breached section 17(5) as it did not give the complainant an adequate refusal notice within 20 working days.