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Newcastle City Council

  • Date 23 January 2020
  • Sector Local government
  • Decision(s) FOI 21: Upheld

The complainant has requested various information about external consultants used by Newcastle City Council. The Council responded that the entirety of the requested information was already accessible by other means. The Council subsequently informed the Commissioner that its position was incorrect, and that further information was likely to be held that was not accessible to the complainant. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council, by failing to fully consider the parameters of the request, has incorrectly applied section 21 to the entirety of the request. The Commissioner requires the Council to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation.

Issue a fresh response that does not seek to apply section 21 to the entirety of the request.