Information Commissioner's Office

Department for Culture Media and Sport

30 August 2007, Central government

The complainant asked the public authority for information about specifications and costs for producing the ‘MadforArts’ project. The public authority provided some information but withheld other elements, citing the exemptions contained in sections 41, 43 and 40 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the Act’). It subsequently dropped its reliance on section 41. The complainant questioned the application of the exemptions and also expressed doubts that the public authority had identified all of the information which fell within his request. After the Commissioner’s intervention the public authority identified further information, some of which it released. The Commissioner decided that some of the withheld information was exempt under section 40 but, in breach of section 1(1), the public authority had failed to disclose other information to which the section 43 exemption did not apply because there was no prejudice associated with disclosure. The Commissioner required the public authority to disclose the information which had been inappropriately withheld.

FOI 40: Partly upheld