Information Commissioner's Office

Department for Children Schools and Families

29 April 2008, Central government

The complainant asked DCSF for a copy of information that it held for the period November 2005 to September 2006 relating to the academy of which he is a proprietor. DSCF declined to provide the information on the grounds that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit (section 12). The complainant made revised information requests relating to shorter periods. DSCF declined to comply with one of the revised requests on cost grounds under the aggregation provisions, but provided some information in relation to the other requests, withholding the remaining information under the exemptions in sections 36(2)(b) and 42.The Commissioner found that DCSF was entitled to rely on section 12 and that it had correctly applied the exemptions in sections 36(2)(b) and 42 in relation to the majority of the withheld information. It had, however, misapplied the exemption in section 36(2)(b) to some of the information it held for which the public interest in maintaining the exemption is outweighed by the public interest in disclosing the information. The Commissioner also found that, in relation to one of the revised requests, DCSF had breached sections 10(1) and 17(1) of the Act.

FOI 10: Upheld