Information Commissioner's Office

Cumbria Constabulary

20 February 2008, Police and criminal justice

The complainant requested information about a review of the policies of the public authority carried out by a consultancy firm and about the handling of an information request made by him previously. The public authority withheld the information, citing sections 40 (personal information), 41 (information provided in confidence), 42 (legal professional privilege) and 43 (commercial interests). The Commissioner finds that the information about the handling of the previous information request made by the complainant is personal data relating to the complainant and thus exempt under section 40(1). In relation to the information about the consultancy review, the Commissioner finds that the exemptions cited were applied incorrectly and the public authority is required to disclose the withheld information to the complainant. The Commissioner has also found the public authority in breach of the procedural requirements of the Act in that it initially failed to respond within 20 working days of receipt of the request and that the initial response failed to clarify what information was held by the public authority that fell within the scope of the request.

FOI 10: Upheld