LetchWood Business Management.           

     Requests                 
 

Complying with a Request

A public authority that gives the right information to the applicant is taken to have complied with the duty to confirm or deny. It is a criminal offence for you to alter, deface, block, erase, destroy or conceal any record once a request for information has been received, with the intention of preventing the disclosure of all or part of the information to which the applicant would have been entitled. This is a summary offence punishable by a fine not exceeding £5,000, so be careful what you destroy.

Means of Communication

As far as reasonable, you must respect the enquirer’s preferred means of reply. If we decide that it is not practicable to do what is being asked of us, we must give our reasons, and suggest an alternative. The enquirer may request us for a copy of the information in permanent form or they may ask for a digest or summary of the information in permanent form. If it is more appropriate, they can also ask for a reasonable opportunity to inspect a record containing the information.

Subject to the above, we can send the information by any means that are reasonable in the circumstances. What is reasonable must be judged on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the nature of the information and the circumstances.

Time for Compliance

 We must comply with a request for information promptly and, in any event, not later than 20 working days following the date of receipt of the request and this time limit applies irrespective of the geographical location of the applicant. The duty to comply with the timing of the Act is satisfied when the information is posted or otherwise transmitted to the applicant.

 There are four exceptions to the duty to provide the information within the stated time limit as follows: 

• If the public authority has given the applicant a “fees notice” and the applicant has paid the fee within three months of the date the notice was given.
• Where it is possible that one of the exemptions applies and the public authority is considering the public interest test, the public authority need not comply with the request until such time as is reasonable in the circumstances.
• If the Lord Chancellor wills it.
• If we need more details to locate the information requested and it has informed the applicant of this.

Practical Business Support    

Copyright © 2011 LetchWood Associates
Last modified: 08/31/11