City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council

The complainant requested a copy of a petition from City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (“the Council”). The Council disclosed part of the wording of the petition and the number of signatories but withheld the information about the signatories and the lead petitioner citing the personal information exemption under section 40(2) of FOIA.
The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council is entitled to rely on section 40(2) (personal information) of FOIA to withhold the information withheld on that basis. However, he finds that the Council has breached section 10(1) of FOIA in that it failed to provide a full response to the request within the statutory time frame of 20 working days.
The Commissioner requires the Council to take the following step to ensure compliance with the legislation: Disclose the further information it has identified within scope of the request during the course of the Commissioner’s investigation, that is the paragraph, which forms part of the wording of the petition, that appears at the top of each page of the petition other than the front page.