Swansea Council

The complainant requested information about cleaning undertaken at a particular public toilet. Swansea Council (the Council) provided some information, but the complainant was not happy that the Council had responded fully to their request. During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation the Council identified additional information relevant to the request. However, at the date of this notice the Council has not disclosed this information. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council has failed to demonstrate that it has conducted a reasonable and proportionate search of its records to identify all information falling within the scope of the request. This means that it has not complied with section 1(1) (general right of access) of the FOIA. In addition, the Commissioner has recorded a breach of section 10 (time for compliance) of the FOIA as the Council failed to disclose information relevant to the request within the appropriate timescale. The Commissioner requires the Council to disclose a list of the dates that the public toilets at Oystermouth Square were cleaned during the period covered by the request - 1 September 2024 to 28 February 2025 and the Toilet Cleaning Check List 2021 – Beach Team and carry out further searches aimed at identifying all the information it holds falling within the scope of the request, and to issue the complainant with a fresh response which meets the requirements of the FOIA.