Steyning Parish Council

The complainant has requested information from Steyning Parish Council (“the Council”) relating to claims made against the Council since the May 2019 election. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council has failed to carry out adequate searches for the requested information and therefore, on the balance of probabilities, has not identified all information held within the scope of the request. The Commissioner requires the Council to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. The Council must issue a fresh response to the request following searches aimed at identifying all the information held within the scope of the request. The Council 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 FOIA and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.