Freedom of Information statistics

The two most common exemption applied this fiscal year are section 12 and 40 of the Freedom of Information Act.

Section 12 is applied when cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limits set out in the legislation, which for us is 18 hours. This means that to find, collate or retrieve the information is likely to cost us in excess of £450 (equivalent to 18 hours work).

When applying this exemption, we explain the difficulties in providing the information requested although the cost measures relate to a request in its entirety. This means that if we cannot retrieve all the information requested within the cost limit, we are not obliged to retrieve any of the information requested. We’re committed to transparency and customer service however, and therefore try to disclose the information we have readily available if no other exemptions apply.

Section 40 is applied where the requested information relates to individuals, it would be very rare for us to release such information under the terms of the FOI Act. Individuals would not expect that personal data would be disclosed in response to a request under the FOI Act that could provide and identify an individual related to the subject matter.

Any disclosure would breach the first data protection principle of the Data Protection Act, GDPR, which relates to fair processing, Article 5(1) requires that personal data shall be: 

(a) processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to individuals (‘lawfulness, fairness and transparency’)