The Information Commissioner has served an information notice under section 51 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 on the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police (GMP), giving the force 30 calendar days to provide a substantive response to investigation enquiries it has twice failed to answer.
The notice, dated 1 July 2026, arose from a section 50 application for a decision on whether a request for information (the subject of which was not disclosed in the ICO's notice) made to GMP on 14 May 2025 was dealt with in accordance with Part I of FOIA. The underlying request was therefore already more than a year old when the Commissioner's investigation began.
According to the notice, the Commissioner wrote to GMP on 27 May 2026 raising queries to assist his investigation and asking for a response by 12 June. Having received nothing, he wrote again on 16 June, extending the deadline to 23 June. The force contacted the ICO on 18 June, saying it had made enquiries with the relevant business area, was awaiting its response, and would reply when in a position to do so. However, at the time the notice was issued, the Commissioner had received no further communication and the response remained outstanding.
The notice requires GMP to provide a substantive response to the Commissioner's letter of 27 May 2026 within 30 calendar days. Failure to comply may result in written certification to the High Court under section 54 of FOIA, with the matter capable of being dealt with as a contempt of court. GMP has a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights) within 28 days.
An information notice is one of the Commissioner's enforcement tools under FOIA, allowing him to require a public authority to furnish him with any information he needs to enforce the requirements of the Act, including information relating to a section 50 application, to compliance with Part I, or to conformity with the code of practice. It is typically deployed where an authority has stopped cooperating with an ICO investigation.
The information notice is available at: https://ico.org.uk/media2/qt1py2yr/information-notice-ic-419128-f0b0.pdf
