Decision notice IC-133907-G8M1

The complainant has requested information about charges for repairing damage to council highways and property. Surrey County Council (‘the Council’) said that it did not hold some of the information. It also said that it had already disclosed some of the information specified in the request to the complainant. The Commissioner’s decision is that, on the balance of probabilities, the Council does not hold the information requested in parts 4B, 2a, 2B and 2C of the request. However, the Council has not demonstrated to him that it has carried out adequate searches for the information requested in parts 5B and 5C of the request. Therefore, on the balance of probabilities, the Commissioner is not satisfied that the Council has identified all information held within the scope of those parts of the request. The Council also breached sections 1 and 10 of FOIA by failing to respond to the request within 20 working days. The Commissioner requires the Council to issue a fresh response to parts 5B and 5C of the request, following searches aimed at identifying all the information held within their scope. It should confirm or deny whether it holds information described in parts 5B and 5C of the request and, in relation to any information which may be held, either disclose it or issue a valid refusal notice.