Why is Liverpool City Council not complying with ICO decision notice FS50591795?

A long time ago I made a FOI request to Liverpool City Council that resulted in ICO decision notice FS50591795 dated the 1st February 2016.

As it states in paragraphs 3 and 4 of that decision notice:

However 35 calendar days after the decision notice was yesterday and no “fresh response” has been issued.

You can see from yourself on the whatdotheyknow.com website that the last response received from Liverpool City Council was in June 2015.

So below is my response to Liverpool City Council’s Monitoring Officer about the lack of compliance with this decision notice.

To: "McLoughlin, Janette" <Jeanette.McLoughlin@liverpool.gov.uk>

Dear Janette McLoughlin,

I write to you in your capacity as Monitoring Officer for Liverpool City Council.

A copy of ICO decision notice FS50591795 issued on the 1st February 2016 is attached to this email for reference. Please note that this is an enforcement notice, see s.52 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The enforcement notice states in paragraphs 3 and 4,

“3. The Commissioner requires the council to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation.

Issue a fresh response under the terms of the FOIA to the part of the complainant’s request that seeks copies of relevant invoices.

4. The council must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.”

No fresh response has been issued within 35 calendar days of the decision notice.

Liverpool City Council has failed to comply with the decision notice, which is a breach of s.54(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Please could this matter be rectified as soon as possible.

As you are Liverpool City Council’s Monitoring Officer, I am also requesting that you write a report to the executive of Liverpool City Council (see s.5A of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989) as Liverpool City Council’s lack of response would appear to constitute a breach of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

A report would be useful so that lessons were learnt and there isn’t a repeat of this in the future.

I will also be contacting the regulator (the Information Commissioner’s Office) today about this matter.

Yours sincerely,
—
John Brace

If you click on any of the buttons below, you’ll be doing me a favour by sharing this article with other people.