London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

The complainant has requested information about meetings related to him and demographic information about children taken into care. The London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham provided information in respect of one element of the request, stated that it did not hold information in respect of two other elements and refused the remaining element which it estimated would exceed the appropriate limit to comply with. The Commissioner’s decision is that the London Borough has reasonably estimated that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit and was therefore entitled to rely on section 12 of the FOIA to refuse it. However, she considers that the London Borough failed to provide the complainant with reasonable advice and assistance to help him refine his request within the cost limit and thus breached its section 16 duty. She also finds that, in failing to issue a refusal notice or comply with its section 1(1) duty within 20 working days, the London Borough breached sections 17(5) and 10 of the FOIA respectively. The Commissioner requires the London Borough to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: provide the complainant with reasonable advice and assistance to help him bring his request within the cost limit.