Resident asked under Freedom of Information Act to see emails written by Chair what effect could it have on Chair ?

Question

Resident has spent months quarrelling with another resident and this has caused much disruption in past meetings which I wish to draw a close to. This looking at emails will just open another can of worms and is causing ill feeling towards her already.

Answer 1

Not everything is subject to FoI requests. And a request can be refused as vexatious, although this approach often leads to an unsatisfactory outcome. However, it's certainly worth considering whether the emails are subject to FoI - the commissioner's office is usually helpful in settling difficult cases.

Answer 2

But presumably the resident could ask to see any personal information about her (including personal opinions expressed by the Chair or others) under the Data Protection Act 2018?  I think it would be questionable whether you could treat such a request as vexatious.

Answer 3

A vexatious request is one which is framed in an angry or aggressive tone or is judged to be deliberately designed to cause stress or anxiety.  This could include deluging a public body with a large volume of repeated requests for the same information. Essentially the E mails have to be provided ( possibly part redacted) unless the Council can demonstrate a valid exclusion by reference to the appropriate article in the Freedom Of Information Act. Vexatious requests are one such exclusion.