Department of Health and Social Care

The complainant has requested the Covid-19 action plan and actions taken during January 2020. The Department for Health and Social Care relied on section 12 of the FOIA to refuse the request as it estimated that the cost of complying would exceed the appropriate limit. The Commissioner’s decision is that the DHSC was entitled to rely on section 12 of the FOIA to refuse the request. However, as the DHSC failed to issue its refusal notice within 20 working days, it breached section 17(5) of the FOIA. The Commissioner does not require further steps.