Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant requested information from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) about instructions and suggestions it had sent to Land of Leather about a customer contact exercise. The FSA disclosed a limited amount of information but withheld the rest on the basis of exemptions in sections 31, 42 and 44 of the Freedom of Information Act (the Act). In response to a request for internal review of its decision, the FSA upheld its decision to withhold information as exempt under sections 31 and 44 of the Act but decided that section 42 did not apply to the requested information. The Information Commissioner has investigated the complaint and has decided the FSA was entitled to rely on the exemption at section 44 to withhold some of the requested information but that it was not entitled to rely on the exemption at section 31 to withhold the rest of the information, which should be disclosed to the complainant.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 10 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 31 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 44 - Complaint Not upheld