Crown Prosecution Service

The complainant requested information relating to the number of charges for particular offence-codes. The Crown Prosecution Service (the CPS) relied on section 14(1) (vexatious request) of FOIA to refuse to comply with the request. The Commissioner’s decision is that the request was not vexatious and therefore the CPS was not entitled to rely on section 14(1) to refuse it. The Commissioner requires the CPS to take the following step to ensure compliance with the legislation: issue a fresh response to the request that does not rely on section 14(1) of FOIA.