Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

The complainant requested information from what was then known as the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, now referred to as the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities [‘the Ministry’] relating to the "standard method of assessing housing need" first proposed in the "Planning for the right homes in the right places: consultation proposals" of September 2017.
The Commissioner’s decision is that the Ministry has failed to carry out a reconsideration (internal review) of a response it provided, under the Environmental Information Regulations (“the EIR”), within 40 working days and has therefore breached Regulation 11 of the EIR.
The Commissioner requires the Ministry to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation.
Reconsider how it responded to the original request and inform the complainant of the outcome of that reconsideration in accordance with Regulation 11 of the EIR.
The Ministry must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Freedom of Information Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.