Vale of White Horse District Council

The complainant has requested information relating to complaints received by Vale of White Horse District Council (Vale) about a specific vehicle that was granted taxi license. Vale refused to comply with the complainant’s request citing section 14(2) of FOIA as its basis for doing so. The Commissioner’s decision is that Vale was not entitled to rely on sections 14 of FOIA to refuse to comply with the complainant’s request. He also considers that Vale has breached section 17 of FOIA as it has failed to issue an appropriate refusal notice to the complainant. The Commissioner requires Vale to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation.
•    Disclose the requested information Or
•    Issue a proper refusal notice that does not rely on the complainant’s engagement with another public authority.
The public authority 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.