Chief Constable of Gwent Police

The complainant requested information from Chief Constable Gwent Police (the public authority). By the date of this notice the public authority had not issued a substantive response to this request. The Commissioner’s decision is that the public authority has breached section 10(1) of FOIA in that it failed to provide a valid response to the request within the statutory time frame of 20 working days. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following step to ensure compliance with the legislation. The public authority must provide a substantive response to the request in accordance with its obligations under FOIA. The public authority must take this step within 30 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 FOIA and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.

Following review of this case, it has been noted that the Commissioner erred in stating that the public authority had failed to provide a response to the request by the date of this notice. It has been evidenced that the public authority did in fact provide a response on 9 April 2024. Therefore, whilst the Commissioner’s finding of a breach of section 10(1) of FOIA is correct, the public authority is not required to provide a further substantive response to the request.