Chief Constable of Surrey Police

The complainant has asked Surrey Police for information on incidents, crimes and reports which mention sodium nitrite. Surrey Police disclosed some figures, but the complainant believed that it held further information. The Commissioner’s decision is that Surrey Police’s interpretation of the request as only being for information on “incidents” was unreasonably restrictive and that it wrongly defined its scope. In doing so, Surrey Police failed to comply with the provisions of section 1(1)(a) (General right of access) of FOIA. He also finds it breached sections 1 and 10 of FOIA by failing to respond to the request within the statutory 20 working day time for compliance. The Commissioner requires Surrey Police to Issue a fresh response, having carried out further searches to identify all information held which falls within the scope of Request 1, in accordance with the meaning clarified in paragraphs 21 and 22 of this notice.