Department For Education (DFE)

The complainant submitted two requests seeking information from the Department for Education (DfE). The first request sought details of senior staff involved in matters related to duty of care in higher education. The second request concerned information related to a serious incident review and a Prevention of Future Deaths report. DfE had previously relied on section 14(1) of FOIA (vexatious requests) to refuse similar requests and was now relying on section 17(6) as a basis for not responding to the complainant’s current requests. The Commissioner’s decision is that the requests were vexatious and that DfE’s previous refusal notice was valid. Therefore, DfE was entitled to rely upon section 17(6) of FOIA to refuse to provide a response. The Commissioner does not require further steps.