Ref 6. Green Spaces Maintenance Contracts

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In June I asked LBH  how many such contract there were and how they were stored (on disc etc) in advance of making an information request. I received no reply and went ahead and asked for copies of the contracts.

LBH failed to respond to my request within the statutory 20 day working period. They failed, in my view, to properly “confirm or deny” whether or not the information was held. They said they would not provide the information as the cost of “locating and retrieving” it was in excess of the £450 statutory maximum. This is untenable as all they had to do was take the documents from were they were stored and place then somewhere for copying which would be at my expense.   LBH failed to supply a copy of their cost calculations when asked to do so.

Public bodies have a general duty to provide “advice and assistance” under the Act.  When a request is refused on cost grounds Public Bodies are expected to be pro-active in advising how a request could be be modified to fall within the cost criteria.  LBH have given no such advice.

LBH also failed to respond to my complaint under the final stage of their FOIA Complaints Procedure.

In September I therefore submitted a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office.  The ICO wrote to LBH on 19th September asking them to conduct a internal review within 20 days and suggesting they provide a breakdown of the costs.

Text of complaint to Information Commissioner
Letter from Information Commissioner to LBH