Information Commissioner's Office

BBC

28 February 2008, Other

The complainant made 11 requests for information to the BBC for: details of the personal shareholding of members of staff who select and present coverage on the Working Lunch programme; details of financial relationships that exist between members of staff working on the programme and the financial experts who appear on it; a record of appearances of a financial expert; and a record of the coverage given to a particular company on the programme. The BBC refused to provide all the information requested on the basis that it was not a public authority in relation to the complainant’s request because the information was held for the purpose of journalism, art or literature within the meaning set out in Schedule 1 of the Act. As an alternative argument the BBC applied section 40 and 41 to withhold the information. The complainant made a complaint to the Commissioner regarding the information withheld in points (i), (ii), (iii), (x) and (xi) of this request. The Commissioner has investigated and concluded that the information in parts (x) and (xi) of the request is held for the dominant purpose of journalism, art and literature. However the Commissioner concluded that the BBC misapplied the Schedule 1 derogation and that the information requested in part (i), (ii) and (iii), falls within the scope of the Act. The Commissioner investigated the BBC’s application of the exemptions and found that the information requested is exempt from disclosure under section 40 of the Act.

FOI 17: Upheld