Chief Constable Cleveland Police

The complainant has requested information about breaches of the Regulatory Powers Act. The above public authority confirmed that some information was already reasonably accessible. The Commissioner’s decision is that the public authority has failed to comply with section 1(1) of FOIA, because it has failed to confirm explicitly whether it holds any further information within the scope of the request that is not exempt under section 21, nor has it explicitly relied upon a valid exemption to refuse to confirm or deny that further such information is held. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take one of the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. Either: provide the complainant with a refusal notice stating the exemption being relied upon to refuse to confirm or deny that any further information (not already exempt under section 21) is held; or provide explicit confirmation or denial that further information (not already exempt under section 21) is held and, if it is, provide a copy of that information, or issue a refusal notice citing a valid exemption from the duty to communicate that information.