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FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

SUPERVISORY POWERS OF THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER


ENFORCEMENT NOTICE
DATED 2 June 2015
To:

The Department of Finance and Personnel for Northern Ireland

of:

Rosepark House
Upper Newtownards Road
Belfast
BT4 3NR

1.

The Department of Finance and Personnel for Northern Ireland


(DFP) is a public authority for the purposes of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (FOIA) pursuant to section 3(1)(a) and
Part I Schedule 1.

2.

Section 1(1) of FOIA states


(1) Any person making a request for information to a public
authority is entitled
(a) to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it
holds information of the description specified in the request, and
(b) if that is the case, to have that information communicated to
him.

3.

Section 10(1) of FOIA states


a public authority must comply with section 1(1) promptly and
in any event not later than the twentieth working day following
receipt.

4.

Section 52(1) of FOIA states


If the Commissioner is satisfied that a public authority has failed
to comply with any of the requirements of Part I, the
Commissioner may serve the authority with a notice (in this Act
referred to as an enforcement notice) requiring the authority to
take within such time as may be specified in the notice, such
steps as may be so specified for complying those requirements.

5.

The Commissioner has been in correspondence with the DFP since


May 2014 in relation to the timeliness of its responses to requests
for information made to it.

6.

On 31 October 2014 the Commissioner met with the Northern


Ireland Permanent Secretaries Group. At the meeting he
expressed concern about late responses to some FOI requests
and made it clear that if improvements were not forthcoming in
the following 6 months enforcement action would be likely to
follow.

7.

On 10 March 2015 the Commissioner wrote to the DFP noting that


whilst some improvements in performance had been made, 11
requests remained outstanding, 8 of which were over six months
old. In view of this the Commissioner informed the DFP that it
intended to formally monitor the authoritys timeliness over three
months, between February and April 2015. Furthermore, the
Commissioner made it clear that he expected all outstanding
requests over six months old to be responded to by 30 April
2015. The DFP were informed that the Commissioner was likely to
consider exercising his formal enforcement powers if this target
was not met.

8.

On 5 May 2015 the DFP informed the Commissioner that 10


requests over six months old remained outstanding. The
Commissioner wrote to the DFP on 11 May 2015 notifying it of his
intention to issue an Enforcement Notice under section 52(1) of
FOIA.

9.

On 2 June 2015 the DFP confirmed that those requests for


information identified in Annex 1 of this Notice remained
outstanding. Therefore, whilst the Commissioner recognises the
work that the DFP has put into resolving these requests, the
Commissioner considers it necessary to issue this Notice.

10.

In the circumstances, the Commissioner is satisfied that DFP has


failed to comply with sections 1(1) and 10(1) of FOIA in respect
of those requests for information identified in Annex 1.

11.

In view of the matters referred to above, the Commissioner


hereby gives notice that in exercise of his powers under Section
52 of FOIA he requires the DFP to take the following steps within
30 days of the date of this Notice:
(i)

Comply with section 1(1) of FOIA in respect of each


information request identified in Annex 1; or
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(ii)

Issue a refusal notice in accordance with section 17 of


FOIA in respect of each information request identified
in Annex 1.

12.

There is a right of appeal against this Notice to the First-tier


Tribunal (Information Rights), part of the General Regulatory
Chamber. Information about appeals is set out in the attached
Annex 2.

13.

Any Notice of Appeal should be sent so that it is received by the


Tribunal within 28 days of the date on which this Notice is sent.

Dated the 2nd day of June 2015

Signed: .....
Graham Smith
Deputy Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

ANNEX 1
Response
Information Requested
Date
DFP/2011-0437 19/09/2011 EU funded organisations reported to police
Disciplinary action taken against a senior
DFP/2011-0517 21/10/2011
member of staff
DFP/2014-0633 27/08/2014 Outstanding AQs
DFP/2014-0636 28/08/2014 Outstanding AQs
Reference

ANNEX 2

RIGHTS OF APPEAL AGAINST DECISIONS OF THE


COMMISSIONER
1.

Section 57 of the FOIA gives any public authority upon whom an


Enforcement Notice has been served a right of appeal to the
First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights) against the notice.

2.

If you decide to appeal and if the Tribunal considers:a)

that the notice against which the appeal is brought is not in


accordance with the law; or

b)

to the extent that the notice involved an exercise of


discretion by the Commissioner, that he ought to have
exercised his discretion differently,

the Tribunal will allow the appeal or substitute such other notice
as could have been served by the Commissioner. In any other
case the Tribunal will dismiss the appeal.
3.

You may bring an appeal by serving a notice of appeal on the


Tribunal at the following address:
GRC & GRP Tribunals
PO Box 9300
Leicester
LE1 8DJ
Tel: 0300 1234504
Fax: 0870 739 5836
Email: GRC@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk
Website: http://www.justice.gov.uk/tribunals/generalregulatory-chamber
The notice of appeal should be served on the Tribunal within 28
days of the date on which the enforcement notice was sent.

4.

The statutory provisions concerning appeals to the First-tier


Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber) are contained in sections
57 to 61 of, and Schedule 4 to, the Freedom of Information Act
2000, and Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (General
Regulatory Chamber) Rules 2009 (Statutory Instrument 2009 No.
1976 (L.20)).
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