Lewes District Council

The complainant has requested information about the qualifications required for specific job titles within Lewes District Council (“the council”). The council said that it does not hold any information falling within the scope of the request as it does not have any jobs with the specified job titles. The Commissioner’s decision is that, on a balance of probabilities, the council does not hold the requested information for the purposes of section 1 of FOIA. He has, however decided that the complainant's secondary request for information was unclear, but the council did not comply with its obligations under section 16 of FOIA as it failed to seek further clarification from the complainant as to the information they were intending to request. The Commissioner requires council to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. To seek further clarification from the complainant as to the scope of their request as required by section 16(1) of FOIA, and once this has been received to the necessary degree, to issue a fresh response, as required by section 1 of FOIA.