North East Lincolnshire Council

The complainant requested information from North East Lincolnshire Council (“the Council”) about whether it produces and publishes various types of data and, if so, the frequency at which it publishes that data. The Council has refused the request, citing section 21 of FOIA (information accessible to applicant by other means) as its basis for doing so. However, it has also stated that it did not consider this to be a request for recorded information and therefore did not consider it to be a valid FOI request. The Commissioner’s decision is that this is a valid request for recorded information and that the Council is not entitled to rely on section 21 of FOIA to refuse the request. The Commissioner requires the Council to take the following step to ensure compliance with the legislation: Issue a fresh response to the request, which does not rely on section 21 of FOIA.