London Borough of Redbridge

The complainant requested information about the cost floor in relation to his Right to Buy scheme application from the London Borough of Redbridge (the Council). The Council provided the complainant with some information within the scope of the request, however, stated that further recorded information was not held. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council failed to adequately ascertain whether or not it holds further information falling within the scope of the request. The Commissioner requires the Council to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation.

•    Undertake the steps set out at paragraphs 64 and 65 of this notice in relation to conducing further searches for information falling within the scope of the request. The Council must carry out adequate searches to determine whether it holds any further information falling within the scope of the request and then issue a fresh response to the complainant that conforms with the relevant legislation.  The Commissioner stresses that the Council must consider each part of the request and ensure that it responds to each part of the request in turn. If held, that information should either be disclosed to the complainant or an adequate refusal notice under EIR should be provided. If, following searches, the Council wishes to maintain its position that no further information is held then, in the specific circumstances of this case, it must be able to clearly demonstrate that it has performed adequate searches before arriving at this conclusion.

The Council must take these steps within 30 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.