FOI Request - Cost of FOI

Request 101003593654

1. Do you have a policy of recording the cost of satisfying FOI queries, and if so, how is this calculated?
2. If you calculate the costs of FOIs to the organisation, what has been the total cost of satisfying FOI queries for each year between 2013-2023?
3. Please provide details of the subject of the enquiry and the reason for classification as vexatious for all such requests for each of the years between 2013-2023?
4. What criteria or guidelines do you use when deciding if a request is ‘vexatious’ or not? Could you supply copies of any guidelines or policy documentation relating to this?

Response 15-07-2024

1. Please see Section 5 regarding charging: http://www.moray.gov.uk/downloads/file53881.pdf
The cost to the Council for satisfying FOI requests is not recorded. Nonetheless, the time spent by departments is collated (but this is not aligned with salary grades so could not be used to calculate estimate figures).

2. Not held. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.

3. In 2016-17: 2 requests were considered vexatious. These are now outwith the Council’s retention for FOI requests so no further details on these are held, as such Section 17, information not held, is applicable.

4. The above link for Question 1 covers guidance on vexatious requests. Please note that any such requests are considered on a case by case basis, and the vexatious label would be applied if the FOI Team and the department were in agreement that the threshold had been met.