A request may be made in any form and communicated by any means
A requester tweeted to their local council: ‘hi I’d like to do a LGOIMA request via Twitter. How much is being spent to advertise the council page on facebook?’. The council replied ‘we cannot take LGOIMA requests over twitter. Please call or email us’. The requester complained to the Ombudsman about this response. The complaint was resolved informally by explaining to the council that there was no basis under the LGOIMA to decline to answer the request simply because it was made via Twitter. The council accepted that the advice provided to the requester was incorrect, and agreed to respond.
This case note is published under the authority of the Ombudsmen Rules 1989 opens page in this tab. It sets out an Ombudsman’s view on the facts of a particular case. It should not be taken as establishing any legal precedent that would bind an Ombudsman in future.