Caerphilly County Borough Council

The complainant requested details of complaints and responses made about a specified officer of Caerphilly County Borough Council (the ‘Council’) in relation to a specific issue. The Council refused to confirm or deny whether there had been any complaints, on the basis that to do so would in itself breach data protection principles, citing section 40(5B)(a)(i) (personal information) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council has was entitled to rely on section 40(5B)(a)(i) of FOIA to neither confirm or deny holding any information falling within the scope of the request. The Commissioner does not require the Council to take any steps as a result of this notice.