Bradford City Council

The complainant requested information from City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (“the Council”) about legal expenses relating to the inquest into the death of Andrew Hall. The Council stated that because the information was held only on behalf of the coroner, it was not held for the purposes of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council does hold the requested information for the purposes of FOIA and so it was not entitled to rely on section 3(2) of FOIA to refuse the request. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: Issue a fresh response to the request, on the basis that any information falling within the scope of the request is held by the Council for the purposes of the FOIA.