Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

The complainant requested a copy of communications that arose from a particular email. Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council (the Council) refused to comply with the request and cited section 14(1) of the FOIA (vexatious requests) as its basis for doing so.

The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council was not entitled to rely on section 14(1) to refuse the request. The Commissioner requires the Council to issue a fresh response to the request which does not rely on section 14(1) of the FOIA.