Information Commissioner's Office

Charity Commission

15 May 2007, Local government (Other)

The complainant asked the public authority for all recorded information held about a charity he managed. The public authority provided some information initially and at the internal review stage, but withheld other information under sections 31, 40 and 41 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the Act’). After the Commissioner’s intervention the public authority released further information but continued to withhold details of the identity of a person who had made a complaint about the charity. The Commissioner decided that the public authority was justified in applying section 31 to this information, and that it was not therefore necessary to go on to assess the remaining exemptions cited by the public authority. However, he also decided that there was a breach of section 10(1) of the Act in that the Commission did not respond to the complainant’s request within twenty working days and section 17(7) as the refusal notice was not adequate. An appeal was made to the Tribunal but later withdrawn.

FOI 10: Upheld