City of Wolverhampton Council

The complainant requested information on partnerships and collaboration with the voluntary sector. City of Wolverhampton Council (the “council”) disclosed some information, confirmed other information wasn’t held and withheld other information under the exemption in section 22 (information intended for future publication). The Commissioner’s decision is that the council interpreted the request too narrowly and, as a result, failed to communicate all information falling within the scope of the request. The council therefore breached section 1(1) of FOIA. The Commissioner requires the council to issue a fresh response to request parts 2–5 (and any elements of part 1 not already addressed) on the basis of the correct scope of the request, as set out in this notice; the fresh response must either disclose the information held within scope or issue a refusal notice which complies with section 17 of FOIA, citing any exemptions relied upon and providing appropriate reasoning; where the council maintains that any information within scope is not held, it must clearly confirm this and provide a clear explanation of the searches and enquiries undertaken to reach that position.