Department of Health (NI)

The complainant requested from Department of Health Northern Ireland (DoH) information relating to “individual briefings”. DoH stated that to comply with the request would exceed the cost limit and therefore, applied section 12(1) (cost of compliance) of FOIA to the request.
The Commissioner’s decision is that DoH was entitled to rely on section 12(1) of FOIA to refuse the request. However, the Commissioner finds that DoH did not provide advice and assistance, and therefore failed to meet its obligations under section 16(1) of FOIA.
The Commissioner requires DoH to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation.
• Provide the complainant with appropriate advice and assistance to help them submit a request falling within the appropriate limit, or explain why the request cannot be meaningfully refined.
DoH must take these steps 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 the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.