St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council

The complainant has requested information about the number of homes on St Helens Council’s housing register and a breakdown of allocations by citizenship status. St Helens Council (the council) stated that it did not hold information in scope of part one of the request and withheld information in scope of part two under section 38 of FOIA (health and safety). The Commissioner’s decision is that the council, on the balance of probabilities, does not hold information in scope of part one of the request. The Commissioner also finds that the council was entitled to rely on section 38 of FOIA to withhold information falling in scope of part two of the request.  The Commissioner has recorded a procedural breach of section 10(1) of FOIA in relation to part three of the request. The Commissioner does not require any steps.