Information Commissioner's Office

The complainant requested an anonymised list of the caseworkers who had dealt with specific FOIA complaints. The ICO initially said that it did not hold the requested information, before later refusing the request as vexatious. The Commissioner’s decision is that the request was vexatious and therefore the ICO was entitled to rely on section 14(1) of the FOIA to refuse it. However, as it failed to issue its refusal notice, citing section 14 of the FOIA, within 20 working days, the ICO breached section 17(5) of the FOIA in responding to the request. The Commissioner does not require any further steps to be taken. Information Tribunal appeal EA/2021/0064 appeal dismissed.