Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

The complainant requested the qualifications of the legal advisor who (he believed) had advised the caseworker dealing with a previous complaint he had made. The Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman denied holding any information within the scope of the request. The Commissioner’s decision is that if the PHSO held any information related to the request it would be the complainant’s own personal data. The Commissioner has therefore applied section 40(5A) of the FOIA herself proactively to prevent the disclosure of personal data that would result from confirming or denying that information was held. As the PHSO failed to issue its response within 20 working days it also breached section 17(1) of the FOIA. The Commissioner does not require further steps.