Chief Constable of Sussex Police

In a multi-part request, the complainant requested information relating to a safeguarding investigation unit (SIU). Sussex Police initially advised that it would exceed the appropriate limit to comply with the request in its entirety, citing section 12 (cost of compliance) of the FOIA. During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation, Sussex Police revisited its handling of parts of the request. The Commissioner’s decision is that Sussex Police failed to fully consider and respond to the request in accordance with section 1(1) (general right of access to information) of the FOIA. She also finds procedural breaches of section 10 (time for compliance) and section 16 (advice and assistance).The Commissioner requires Sussex Police to take the following step to ensure compliance with the legislation: disclose the information identified in paragraphs 30 and 31 below as falling within the scope of parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8 of the request and provided to the Commissioner during the course of her investigation.