Information Commissioner's Office

Rent Service

24 July 2007, Education (Other)

The complainant requested to be advised as to the then current figures for local reference rents in a specified area in the United Kingdom. TRS declined to release the information relying upon an exemption under section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”) indicating that the figures would be contained in an annual valuation report to be published at a later date and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information. The Commissioner finds that the public authority was incorrect in its application of section 22 as the figures requested would not be published in the valuation report. The Commissioner therefore orders the public authority to disclose the requested local reference figures for March 2006 to the complainant within 35 calendar days from date of this notice. The Commissioner also finds the TRS in breach of section 17 of the Act.

FOI 17: Upheld