Monmouthshire County Council

The complainant has requested an organisational chart for employees handling FOIA and subject access requests (SARs). Monmouthshire County Council (the Council) stated that the information requested was not held and it was not obliged to create new information to respond to an FOIA request. During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation, the Council amended its position and disclosed the job titles and details of the hierarchy of staff dealing with FOIA and SARs but withheld the names of junior staff. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council correctly applied section 40(2) (personal data) to the request. However, the Commissioner finds that, in failing to confirm the information was held and to provide the disclosable information within the statutory time period, the Council breached sections 1(1)(a) and 10(1) of the FOIA. The Commissioner does not require any steps to be taken. Information Tribunal FT/EA/2024/0203 under appeal.