Information Commissioner's Office

Department for Work and Pensions

29 March 2007, Central government

The complainant made Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to The Rent Service (TRS), an executive agency of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), asking for correspondence and minutes of meetings between the DWP and TRS relating to the determination of ‘localities’. Much of the information held by TRS in relation to the requests was withheld under section 35(1)(a) (formulation of government policy) and section 42(1) (legal professional privilege) of the Act. Following intervention by the Commissioner, TRS supplied a number of previously withheld documents to the complainant but maintained that the remaining information was exempt from disclosure under the aforementioned sections. The Commissioner has decided that section 42(1) applies to all the remaining withheld information, with the balance of the public interest favouring the maintenance of that exemption. He therefore did not consider the application of section 35(1)(a).

FOI 42: Not upheld