HM Treasury

The complainant has requested information about the Independent Loan Charge Review. The above public authority’s final position was to rely on multiple exemptions to withhold some of the information and section 12 of FOIA (cost of compliance exceeds the appropriate limit) to refuse the remainder of the request. The Commissioner’s decision is that the public authority is entitled to rely on section 12 to refuse the request in its entirety. The public authority breached section 16 of FOIA as it failed to provide adequate advice and assistance to the complainant. The public authority also breached section 17 of FOIA as it failed to issue a correct refusal notice within 20 working days. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: provide the complainant with advice and assistance to help him refine his request such that it falls within the appropriate limit. First-tier tribunal (General Regulatory chamber) information rights appeal EA/2023/0303 under appeal.
Keywords: held in repository