Complaints and Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
A complaint to the ICO may be made for the following reasons:
- No/late response to a FOI request
- Unhappy with a FOI response
- No response to an Internal Review request
- Unhappy with Internal Review response (which could also be for subsequent IR responses)
The Information Commissioner has a general duty to investigate complaints from members of the public who believe that an authority has failed to respond correctly to a request for information and can issue a range of actions to a public authority as set out at on the FOI complaints and ICO enforcement powers pages of the ICO website. On notification of a complaint that the ICO has decided to investigate, the Information Governance team will action any instructions received as a matter of priority, noting ICO deadlines and keeping the ICO informed of its actions. The relevant Executive Director will be notified of the complaint and the final response to the ICO for information and, if necessary, the Information Governance team will escalate to the Head of Law & Governance or the Executive Director for their advice.
Any decision notices or practice recommendations received by the ICO will be notified to CMT and actioned as a priority, with an action plan agreed by CMT for any Practice Recommendations. The Council’s Communications team should also be notified if the case concerns a high profile or sensitive matter in order to manage any press enquiries or press releases. ICO Decision Notices and Practice Recommendations will be made public on the ICO website.
The Council will work in partnership with the ICO, attending meetings and relevant information events and take advice and guidance as necessary. The Information Governance Team will be proactive in seeking guidance from the ICO through its web resources and liaison with contact officers.
If the Information Governance Team is concerned about a potential future complaint or/and vexatious requester it should proactively notify the ICO via the Senior Information Governance Officer.
