Information Commissioner's Office

Commission for Local Administration in England

21 May 2007, Central government

The complainant made a request to the Local Government Ombudsman for information related to its investigation of a complaint he had previously made against the London Borough of Barnet. The public authority refused to disclose the information, relying upon section 44 of the Act which provides an exemption from the right to know where disclosure is prohibited under any other enactment. It explained that the relevant statutory prohibition is section 32(2) of the Local Government Act 1974. The Commissioner has considered the complaint and has found that the majority of the information was exempt from disclosure. However the Commissioner has found that the public authority breached section 1 of the Act because section 32(2) of the Local Government Act did not apply to all of the information it held.

FOI 44: Upheld