Sheffield City Council

The complainant requested information about the recruitment of a previous officers appointed to the role of Executive Director of People Services. Sheffield City Council (the Council) stated information relevant to parts 1-3 of the request was not held and withheld information relating to part 4 of the request under section 40(2) (personal data) of the FOIA. During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation, the Council confirmed that it did not hold any information relevant to part 4 of the request. The Commissioner’s decision is that, on the balance of probabilities, the Council does not hold any recorded information falling within the scope of the request. However, the Commissioner finds that the Council breached section 1(1)(a) of the FOIA in failing to confirm it did not hold information relating to part 4 of the request, and section 10(1) in failing to confirm it did not hold information relating to part 4 of the request within 20 working days. The Commissioner does not require any steps to be taken.