Penrose Surgery

The complainant requested information relating to a hearing aid loop. The partners of Penrose Surgery initially denied holding information within the scope of the request but later refused the request as vexatious. The Commissioner’s decision is that the request was vexatious and therefore the Surgery was entitled to rely on section 14(1) of the FOIA to refuse it. However, he also finds that the surgery failed to issue its refusal notice within 20 working days and therefore breached section 17(5) of the FOIA. The Commissioner does not require any further steps.