Dear Mr Nunn

Refusal Notice

The Information Commissioner's Office has written to us regarding the fact that we did not provide you with a proper refusal notice following your information request in October.

I would like to apologise to you for this, and although I don't believe it contains any new information for you, I would like to give you a formal notice as follows.

On 11 October 2009 we received from you the following request:

Over the last five years

(1) How many Local Government Act Part III Section 32(3) notices

has your council served on a Local Government Ombudsman.

(3) How many times has the Ombudsman concerned found the council

guilty of maladministration for misusing a Section 32(3) notice

While the council does hold the information requested, it is not held in any summarised form, as there is no operational need for it. The information could only be obtained by locating several hundred files in archives, and then examining each one for relevant content.

Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act provides that

(1) Section 1(1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.

(2) Subsection (1) does not exempt the public authority from its obligation to comply with paragraph (a) of section 1(1) unless the estimated cost of complying with that paragraph alone would exceed the appropriate limit.

(3) In subsections (1) and (2) “the appropriate limit” means such amount as may be prescribed, and different amounts may be prescribed in relation to different cases.

The appropriate limit in the case of a local authority is £450, or 18 hours at a notional rate of £25 per hour. The council estimates that it would take in excess of 18 hours to locate and examine all the files held, and the request is therefore refused on the grounds of excess cost.

Should you wish to appeal against this decision you should contact the Monitoring Officer, the Head of Legal services,, Civic Centre 3, Market Street, Huddersfield HD1 2TG.

If you are dissatisfied with her decision you have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF for a decision as to whether your request has been handled in accordance with Part 1 of the Freedom of Information Act.

Yours sincerely

Leif Wilks

Information Access Officer

Head of Service: Karen Hayward