Information Commissioner's Office

Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service

17 March 2008, Central government

: The complainant, an employee of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), sought information from ACAS relating to an Assessment and Development Centre he had attended to help determine suitability for promotion. Although a substantial amount of information was released to the complainant ACAS withheld some information under section 43 of the Act on the grounds that release of it would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding it). The Commissioner has concluded that ACAS applied this exemption correctly in respect of the prejudice that would be caused to the commercial interests of the company, and thus agreed that the information could be withheld under section 43, although he did not think that section 43 could be applied in respect of ACAS’s own commercial interests. The Commissioner also found that ACAS did not respond to the complainant’s request in compliance with section 17 of the Act.

FOI 17: Upheld