Aberdeenshire Council’s head of education warned a firm it could lose a contract after one of its employees put in a Freedom of Information request about him.
Vincent Docherty’s actions led to the local authority being reprimanded by the information commissioner.
The unnamed applicant put in a Freedom of Information request – FoI – about Mr Docherty.
In what the commissioner described as a “clearly unacceptable” breach, Mr Docherty came to know the identity of the FoI applicant.
The education boss then emailed the applicant’s bosses and said he would “have to consider another provider” for work unless he got an explanation.
A Scottish Information Commissioner ruling has now said that the council breached the FoI code.
The council said the email “was not justified” and was withdrawn.
Council managers must now undergo training
The local authority’s managers must now undergo training on dealing with FOI requests.
The training will have an emphasis on the integrity of third party details.
By law, staff should treat all FoI requests as ‘applicant blind’ . This means the applicant remains anonymous.
The applicant’s employer was known to the council because it provides it with education-related services.
Aberdeenshire Council received a number of FOI requests about Mr Docherty in July 2021. Some also concerned director of education Laurence Findlay.
The following month, Mr Docherty emailed the applicant’s employer expressing “concern in relation to the behaviour of one of your employees”.
Mr Docherty reminded the employer of the work the individual undertook for the council. He said his “recent actions have seriously compromised the trust we have in this relationship”.
He said he wanted a “satisfactory explanation” as to why the person submitted an FoI instead of just asking him directly.
If he did not get an explanation, he said, then “I would seriously have to consider another provider”.
‘Clearly unacceptable’ breach
In its ruling, the commissioner said: “The applicant was simply exercising his statutory rights in a perfectly legitimate manner.
“He was entitled to do so without his employer being involved in the process, and without the council linking wholly unrelated matters to the handling of the requests.”
The information commissioner deemed the breach in anonymity as “clearly unacceptable”.
The report revealed the council acknowledged Mr Docherty’s email “was not justified” and was not good practice.
An Aberdeenshire Council spokeswoman said they accepted the findings.
She added that the matter “has been dealt with internally” and training has taken place.
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