GDPR - a new reason to Deny FOIs

According to Lambeth Council any question you ask them about any part of their housing policy is exempted under s40(5) ....

(b)giving a member of the public the confirmation or denial that would have to be given to comply with section 1(1)(a) would (apart from this Act) contravene Article 21 of the GDPR (general processing: right to object to processing);

....since all Council Houses contain people it is possible if you are terminally lazy and secretive to argue that any FOI about a particular property or properties is a potential breach of GDPR.

Since almost all Council properties are occupied by somebody this gives Lambeth Council the excuse never to answer any questions whatsoever about housing.  Indeed since all Council services are used by real people somewhere it is possible to exempt potentially all and any information requested by FOI on the basis that it is a breach of GDPR somewhere.

So does GDPR always now trump FOI?

I asked the Council who told me to ask the ICO who told me to ask the Council again.

Now like I'm just sitting here watching the wheels...


Dear Mr Cawthore,

As you would know if you could muster up the enthusiasm to read the documents already sent to you
The council have already sent me their final response on the 14th of August in which they state that if
I wish to appeal their decision to never answer any questions whatsoever about housing
because Council houses contain people and therefore talking about them violates personal data laws
then I should talk to you and not to them.  Therefore I concluded that this is their final decision.
I have already asked them to explain their decision all they did was quote s40(5) back at me.
Therefore I see no purpose in me contacting the Council again as it seems to me that
there is nothing to be gained from this in terms of exhausting their proceedures.
However, there may be something to be gained by you and them in exhausting myself.

Furthermore it is not my job to establish the reasoning behind the Council's perverse decisions
and to make them defend their decisions to me.  It is their job to defend their decision
that any possible question about their housing policy is exempted by s40(5) to you.
I wish to know how ALL of the many questions I asked the council can possibly be
universally exempted by s40(5).

Therefore I would suggest that a better way forward might be for you to actually do the job
the tax payer pays you for? and stop trying to find ways to create yet another round of passive aggression.

If I might remind you of your statutary role - it is your job to investigate whether
the uses of exemptions to not answer FOIs are valid - not mine.

Yours sincerely

Anthony Miller

PS See below final response from the Council.

Information request

Our reference: IR244856

Dear Mr Miller

I write in connection with your request for an Internal Review dated 1 August 2018.


We consider that s40(5) was an appropriate response to this request.


This email should not be taken as confirmation that information is/is not held.

Should you still be dissatisfied then please refer to the Information Commissioner's Office ia:- https://ico.org.uk

Kind regards,
Jane Shields LLB LLM
Policy & Communications Manager