Is there limit to the amount of FOI requests ?

Wilson, A made this Freedom of Information request to Information Commissioner's Office This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was refused by Information Commissioner's Office.

Dear Sir or Madam,

What information do you hold under the freedom of information act that limits the amount of FOI question someone can ask.

Kent County Council has previously answered questions but has taken the decisions to suddenly stop.

Yet they recently answered a question put to them by someone who only gave his name as Jim, with no further proof of identity required.Are they allowed to pick and chose which questions they wish to answer and demand further proof from those they don't like answering?

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/bo...

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/in...

Best regards,

Wilson, A

Internal Compliance Team,

Dear Sir or Madam

Thank you for your e-mail of 3 October 2009.

Although you have indicated that you wish to make a request for
information, further to your 'right to know' contained in section 1 of
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), your email contains an
enquiry rather than a request for recorded information held by the ICO.

Where a 'request for information' contains an enquiry, rather than a
specific request for copies of information held by the ICO, we deal with
such requests as a 'normal course of business' enquiry rather than a
formal request for information under the FOIA.

This is in accordance with the guidance given in the ICO publication
'Freedom of Information & Environmental Information Regulations - Hints
for Practitioners handling FOI/EIR requests', which states on page 6
"Requests which are not for recorded information, but instead ask
questions, such as "please explain your policy on x" or "please explain
your decision to do y" are not requests for recorded information and
therefore should be treated as routine correspondence.". This
publication is available on our website, and can be accessed via the
following link:

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/l...
actical_application/foi_hints_for_practitioners_handing_foi_and_eir_requ
ests_2008_final.pdf

We have therefore forwarded your enquiry to our Customer Services Team
who will respond to you in due course.

Yours sincerely

Joanne Crowley
Assistant Internal Compliance Manager
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
www.ico.gov.uk

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Dear Joanne Crowley Internal Compliance Team,

I am asking for all information held by the Information Commissioner's Office under the FOIA.

Best regards,

Wilson, A

Information Commissioner's Office

1 Attachment

Link: [1]File-List

10 November 2009

Case Reference Number ENQ0272224

Dear A Wilson

Thank you for your correspondence dated 3 and 11 October regarding whether
there is a limit on the number of requests that an individual can make
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

Firstly we would like to apologise for the delay in responding to your
correspondence. At the present time our office is dealing with large
volumes of work. This has meant that we have been unable to deal with
incoming correspondence as promptly as we would like.

In answer to your question in your email of 3 October the FOIA places no
restrictions the number of information requests that an applicant can make
at any one time. However the Act does contain grounds under which a
request can be refused and the number of requests made by an applicant can
be a factor in this. Therefore while the FOIA places no restrictions on
the number of information requests that can be made at any one time an
applicant should bear in mind that the number of requests that they make
could contribute to them being refused.

Under section 12 of the FOIA a public authority is not obliged to comply
with a request where they estimate that the cost of compliance will be
more than the appropriate limit (£600 for central government and
Parliament and £450 for other public authorities). In certain
circumstances the cost of more than one request can be added together
(aggregated) and where the total cost of dealing with these requests
exceeds the appropriate limit then the authority would not be obliged to
comply with those requests. Requests can only be aggregated in the
following circumstances:

· two or more requests for information made to the same public
authority;

· they must be either from the same person, or from 'different
persons who appear to the public authority to be acting in concert or in
pursuance of a campaign';

· the requests must relate to the same or similar information; and

· they must have been received by the public authority within any
period of 60 consecutive working days.

For more information on charges under the FOIA please see the following
links:

[2]Using the Fees Regulations

Under section 14 a public authority can refuse to comply with a request
where they deem the request to be vexatious and/or repeated. Although
there is no definition of vexatious in the Act, the Information
Commissioner produces guidance to help a public authority determine if a
request is vexatious and also provides guidance on how to deal with such a
request, you can access this via the following link:

[3]Vexatious requests – a short guide
[4]Vexatious or repeated requests

As can be seen from our guidance the number and pattern of requests is
something that can be taken into consideration in determining whether a
request, or series of requests, is refused as being vexatious.

In regard to the identity of an applicant section 8 defines a valid
“request for information” under the FOIA as a request which:

o “is in writing,
o states the name of the applicant and an address for correspondence,
and
o describes the information requested.”

The use of the phrase “the name of the applicant” in section 8
indicates that the real name of the applicant should be used when
requesting information and not any other name, for example, a pseudonym.
Therefore public authorities are entitled to treat a request as invalid
where the real name of the applicant has not been provided. Although there
is no obligation for authorities to respond to invalid requests we would
advise that as a matter of good practice they should still consider such
requests. For more information on this please see our guidance using the
following link:

[5]Valid request – name and address for correspondence

Although one of the underlying principles of the FOIA is that the identity
of the applicant is not taken into account it can be relevant in certain
circumstances. For example, when:

· a request is being made by the applicant for their own personal
data which would be exempt under section 40(1) of the FOIA (and should
instead be dealt with as a subject access request under the Data
Protection Act 1998);

· a public authority is considering whether a request is vexatious
and/or repeated under section 14; or

· determining whether to aggregate costs for two or more requests
in accordance with the Fees Regulations.

From the above guidance you will note that we are seeking to encourage
public authorities to adopt a common sense approach to establishing the
validity of a request which maintains the spirit of the FOIA that
disclosure is to the world at large. A relatively low-key approach is
recommended and public authorities should not seek proof of the
applicant’s identity as a matter of course. Even where a public
authority knows that a pseudonym has been used then as a matter of good
practice it should still consider the request, for example where the
applicant’s identity is not relevant and it is content to disclose the
information requested, even though technically the request is invalid.

In accordance with the spirit and purpose of the FOIA, the default
position of a public authority should be to accept the name provided by
the applicant unless there is good reason to enquire further about the
applicant’s name. Where a public authority believes that the identity of
the applicant is relevant to the request, such as in the circumstances set
out above, and they believe the applicant’s real name has not been
provided then it will not be unreasonable for them to request proof of
identity in order to determine that a valid request has been made before
processing it. Therefore proof of identity could be requested in relation
to one request even where it had not been in a different request as an
authority may not always consider the name given to be relevant.

Finally we note that your email of 11 October requests “all information
held by the Information Commissioner's Office under the FOIA” however we
hold a very large amount of information and such a request would certainly
exceed the appropriate limit as set out above but the above information
answers the points that you have raised in your email.

If we can be of any further assistance please contact our Helpline on
08456 30 60 60 or 01625 545745 if you would prefer to call a national rate
number, quoting your case reference number. You may also find some useful
information on our website at [6]www.ico.gov.uk.

Yours sincerely,

Trevor Craig

FoI Case Officer

FoI Case Reception Unit

Information Commissioner’s Office

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Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 01625 545 700 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.gov.uk

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Dear Trevor Craig,

So basically what you are saying is that you are giving the local authorities a free-rein to refuse any and all requests they see fit, with no comeback on them at all.

Best regards,

Wilson, A

Susan Web (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

At best the ICO could be classed as 'at arms length' but definitely NOT independent

Information Commissioner's Office

Link: [1]File-List

26 November 2009

Case Reference Number ENQ0272224

Dear A Wilson

Thank you for your correspondence dated 12 November regarding Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (FOIA) in which you state the following:

“So basically what you are saying is that you are giving the local
authorities a free-rein to refuse any and all requests they see fit, with
no comeback on them at all.”

My response of 10 November to your original question did not say that. The
purpose of my response was simply to advise you of the provisions set out
in the FOIA which could lead to a request being refused.

As set out in my response the FOIA only obliges public authorities to
respond to valid information requests, and that a valid request should
include the real name of the applicant rather than a pseudonym. It is the
Act itself and not the ICO that describes a valid request (section 8). In
addition to this the right to complain to the Commissioner as defined in
section 50 only applies to a valid information request made by the
complainant. Therefore, if an applicant has chosen not to use his or her
real name then they have to accept that they have not made a valid request
under the FOIA and thus the authority is under no obligation to respond to
it, although they may still choose to do so, and that they have chosen to
void their right to bring a valid complaint to the Information
Commissioner.

Again, as set out in my response the FOIA does not place a restriction on
the number of requests that an applicant can make, but that there are
certain specific grounds (sections 12 and 14) under which a request can be
refused and that the number of requests made by an applicant can be taken
into account in these. Again it is the Act itself and not the ICO that
sets out the specific grounds under which a public authority can refuse a
request.

If an applicant has made a valid information request to a public authority
and they believe that the authority has breached the FOIA then they can
complain to the Commissioner. As the regulator of the FOIA our remit is to
determine a public authority’s compliance with this Act and we will make
our decision based on the evidence supplied to us.

If a public authority has aggregated the cost of several requests made by
an applicant and then refused them on the grounds of section 12 and the
applicant believes that the authority is not in compliance with the Act
then they can bring a complaint to the Commissioner. Likewise if a public
authority has refused an applicant's request on the grounds of section 14
and the applicant believes that the authority is not in compliance with
the Act then they can bring a complaint to the Commissioner.

In cases where a public authority has refused to accept a request because
they are claiming that it is not valid because the applicant’s real name
has not been provided then we would usually ask the applicant to provide
us with proof that the request was made under their real name as we would
need the evidence that a valid request had indeed been made in order to
take this up with the authority.

For more information on when and how to complain to us, including the
information we usually require, please see the following link:

[2]Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004: When and how to complain

I hope this information is helpful. If we can be of any further assistance
please contact our Helpline on 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 545745 if you would
prefer to call a national rate number, quoting your case reference number.
You may also find some useful information on our website at
[3]www.ico.gov.uk.

Yours sincerely,

Trevor Craig

FoI Case Officer

FoI Case Reception Unit

Information Commissioner’s Office

show quoted sections

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 01625 545 700 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.gov.uk

References

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1. file:///tmp/radA190A_files/filelist.xml
2. blocked::http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/l...
http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/l...
3. http://www.ico.gov.uk/