Susan Orrell

City Solicitor

P.O. Box 532

Town Hall

Albert Square

Manchester

M60 2LA

DX 714441 Manchester 1

Dear Applicant,

Freedom of Information Request - COR/7PJJWR

I refer to your request for information dated 8 February 2009.

In accordance with Section 8(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoIA), the Council has decided to refuse your request as it has reasonable grounds for believing that the name being used on the application (Eric Blair) may not be your real name.

In deciding whether or not to refuse requests for information, the FoIA allows authorities to take account of whether requests are vexatious, repetitious or form part of an organised campaign in determining whether or not to refuse a request. If pseudonyms are used on sites such as 'what do they know' this could facilitate the making of requests which might otherwise be refused, on one or more of the above grounds.

In order to progress your request I shall require proof of your identity. This may take the form of a photocopy of the relevant page of your passport, or if you do not have a passport you may supply a recent copy of a utility bill addressed to you at your home.

The Information Commissioner has published guidance on this issue which is available from the link below:

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/led_specialist_guides/name_of_applicant_fop083_v1.pdf

You may apply to the Information Commissioner If you do not agree with the approach taken by the Council. His address is:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane, Wilmslow

Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely,

Lynn Evans

Information Compliance Officer