West Oxfordshire District Council

The complainant requested the number of complaints that had been received about the tenants of a particular property. West Oxfordshire District Council (the Council) withheld the information requested under section 40 (personal information). During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation the Council stated that it was now relying on the provisions of section 40(5) of the FOIA to refuse to confirm or deny whether the requested information is held. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council correctly cited section 40(5) of FOIA to neither confirm nor deny that it holds the requested information. The Commissioner does not require any further steps.