Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

The complainant requested information from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (“DLUHC”) relating to the setting of council tax rates and its duties under the Equalities Act 2010. The DLUHC’s name was changed to The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (“the MHCLG”) in July 2024, and is therefore referred to as the MHCLG in this decision notice. The MHCLG said that it does not hold the requested information. A subsequent email from the complainant was refused as a repeated request under section 14(2) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that the MHCLG was not correct to refuse the request on the basis that section 14(2) applied. He has, however, decided that, on the balance of probabilities, the MHCLG does not hold the requested information for the purposes of section 1 of FOIA. The Commissioner does not require further steps.