Department for Work and Pensions

The complainant has requested the correspondence sent between two DWP employees. The Commissioner’s decision is that DWP is not entitled to rely on section 14(1) of the Act to refuse to comply with the requests. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take issue a fresh response which does not rely on section 14(1). The public authority must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.