Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant sought access to a letter sent to the Council by the headteacher of his son's school. The Council released the bulk of the letter and provided summaries of other parts, but also redacted some sections, applying sections 30, 31, 40 and 41 of the Act to the withheld information. The Commissioner has now decided that neither section 30 nor section 31 applied to any of the information, and noted that these sections could not be applied to any of the information, and noted that these sections could not be applied simultaneously. He did however find that all the withheld information constituted personal data about third parties, the release of which would contravene at least one of the data protection principles. As a results section 40 did apply to the withheld information. In view of this, section 41 was not considered. The Information Tribunal has ruled on this decision and has dismissed this appeal.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 30 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 31 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 40 - Complaint Not upheld