My
last blog on this subject was on 29th July 2014.
23rd
July 2014 - The Information Commissioner’s Office advised me that the Commissioner’s Investigation
Team wanted answers to further queries to establish the facts in relation to
the timing of the removal and/or destruction of the information. They had
written to the council in this regard and it has until 30 July to respond. They apologised that process is taking so long but, giving the
potential seriousness of the matter, they have to ensure they follow the
correct procedure.
11th August 2014 - The Information Commissioner’s Office
advised me that the Council had responded to their questions by 30th July 2014
and it was now being looked at again by the Commissioner’s Investigations Team
to see whether there is any merit in pursuing a
section 77 investigation. The threshold for demonstrating that an offence
under section 77 of the FOIA has been committed is quite high and requires
evidence that information has been erased or concealed with the intention
of preventing disclosure. By way of context, since the FOIA came into
force some 10 years ago, no proceedings for a section 77 offence have been
brought by the Commissioner.
15th
August 2014 - The
Information Commissioner’s Office confirmed that the Investigations Team will be pursuing this matter further
and I will shortly be contacted in this regard by an Investigating Officer.
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Section 77 - Offence of
altering etc. records with intent to prevent disclosure.
(1) Where -
(a) a request for
information has been made to a public authority, and
(b) under section 1 of this
Act or section 7 of the Data Protection Act 1998, the applicant would have been
entitled (subject to the payment of any fee) to communication of any
information in accordance with that section, any person to whom this subsection
applies is guilty of an offence if he alters, defaces, blocks, erases, destroys
or conceals any record held by the public authority, with the intention of
preventing the disclosure by that authority of all, or any part, of the
information to the communication of which the applicant would have been
entitled.
(2) Subsection (1) applies
to the public authority and to any person who is employed by, is an officer of,
or is subject to the direction of, the public authority.
(3) A person guilty of an
offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not
exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.
(4) No proceedings for an
offence under this section shall be instituted -
(a) in England or Wales,
except by the Commissioner or by or with the consent of the Director of Public
Prosecutions;
(b) in Northern Ireland,
except by the Commissioner or by or with the consent of the Director of Public
Prosecutions for Northern Ireland.
