Information Commissioner's Office

BBC

26 November 2008, Other

The complainant requested the amount the BBC gave away in prize money on game shows in 2005 and 2006. The BBC refused to provide the information on the basis that it was not a public authority in relation to this request because the information was held for the purposes of journalism, art or literature within the meaning set out in Schedule 1 of the Act. Having considered the purposes for which this information is held, the Commissioner has concluded that the requested information was not held for the dominant purposes of journalism, art or literature and therefore the request falls within the scope of the Act. However, the Commissioner has concluded that to fulfil the request would exceed the appropriate cost limit and therefore the BBC does not have an obligation to respond to the request because the cost of compliance would exceed the appropriate limit under section 12. However, the Commissioner has also concluded that in handling this request the BBC breached sections 1(1)(a) and 17(5).

FOI 1: Upheld FOI 12: Not upheld FOI 16: Not upheld