London Borough of Havering

The complainant has requested information from the London Borough of Havering (Council), relating to a payment being made as part of the Private Sector Leasing scheme. The Commissioner’s decision is that, on the balance of probabilities, the Council has not conducted adequate searches for the requested information. The Council also breached section 10(1), by failing to respond to the request within 20 working days. The Commissioner requires the Council to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. Conduct a fresh search for the requested information and provide a new response to the complainant which is complainant with FOIA. The public authority 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 the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.