A school must reconsider its rejection of a freedom of information request about litigation costs in a case brought to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability).
Folkestone School for Girls initially rejected the FoI request for ‘details regarding the school’s expenditure related to the…case’ as vexatious under section 14 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The decision was upheld on internal review.
A complaint was made to the information commissioner, who found the school was entitled to refuse the request ‘after taking into account the background history…information from the school and the number of requests, complaints and allegations from the appellant’. The appellant, who is not named in the First-tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber) judgment, appealed.
In AC v Information Commissioner, Judge Hazel Oliver, with Judge James Armstrong-Holmes and member Naomi Matthews, described the request as ‘focussed and not unduly burdensome to answer’. Though the school had suggested to the commissioner that the request was a ‘personal vendetta’ Oliver said the panel disagreed, saying that there had ‘only actually been one request under FoI’ and it did not ‘constitute harassment’.
The commissioner’s decision, Oliver said, was ‘based on information from the school that was not supported by evidence or checked with the claimant’. She added: ‘In this case we had detailed appeal grounds from the appellant which challenged the version of events from the school and provided supporting evidence. The commissioner’s response did not address these grounds of appeal in any detail. We have therefore accepted the appellant’s version of events where this conflicts with the information in the commissioner’s decision.’
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Allowing the appeal, the judge said it did not find the request, which had ‘some value and serious purpose’, ‘meets the high standard of vexatiousness in all the circumstances’. She added: ‘We therefore find that the school was not entitled to refuse to respond to the request because it is vexatious.’
Deciding it would not be appropriate for the tribunal to order the information is disclosed, it said the school must provide a ‘fresh response’ to the FoI request within 30 working days.
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