Information Commissioner's Office
- Date 4 December 2023
- Sector Other
- Decision(s) FOI 14(1): Not upheld, FOI 17: Not upheld
The complainant requested information from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) relating to training undertaken by its staff. The ICO refused the request under section 14(1) of FOIA (vexatious requests). The Commissioner’s decision is that the request was vexatious and therefore the ICO was entitled to rely upon section 14(1) of FOIA to refuse it. However, the ICO breached section 17(1) of FOIA by issuing its refusal notice beyond the statutory timeframe. The Commissioner does not require any steps. Following a review of this case it has been noted that the Commissioner erred in citing a breach of section 17(1) of FOIA, having omitted to include the Scottish bank holiday of 7 August 2023 in his calculation of the 20 working day deadline. Therefore, the ICO did not breach section 17(1) of FOIA. Information Tribunal FTT EA/2023/0528 under appeal.