Information Commissioner's Office

Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council

10 November 2008, Local government (Borough council)

The complainant requested a copy of a report detailing the findings of an audit carried out by the council on the Rochdale Centre of Diversity (the ‘RCD’), a charitable organisation based in Rochdale. The council carried out the audit due to allegations it received that funds were being mismanaged at the RCD. The council refused the complainant’s request on the basis that the exemptions in sections 30 (investigations and proceedings conducted by public authorities) and 36 (prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs) applied. The Commissioner’s decision is that sections 30 and 36 of the Act do not apply. However he has decided that section 40 (personal data) does apply to the personal information of junior employees of the charity. The personal data of senior employees of the RCD is not exempt under section 40 other than a few sections which impact directly upon the private (as opposed to the public) lives of those individuals.

FOI 17: Upheld FOI 30: Upheld FOI 36: Upheld