Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant made a freedom of information request to the public authority for information it held in relation to concerns it had about the management of the Leeds City Credit Union. The public authority refused the request under section 31 (Law Enforcement); section 40 (Personal information); section 43 (Commercial Interests) and section 44 (Prohibitions on disclosure). The public authority had argued that section 44 applied to all of the requested information by virtue of the statutory bar on disclosure within section 348 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. However, the Commissioner found that section 44 was only partially engaged and so went on to consider the other exemptions in respect of the remainder of the information. The Commissioner found that section 31 was not engaged; that section 43 was engaged for most of the information withheld under that exemption and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosure; and that section 40 was not engaged. Since the Commissioner decided that some of the information should have been disclosed he found the public authority in breach of section 1(1)(b) (General right of access) and section 10 (Time for compliance). The Commissioner now requires the public authority to make this information available to the complainant within 35 calendar days of this notice.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 10 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 31 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 40 - Complaint Partly Upheld, FOI 43 - Complaint Partly Upheld, FOI 44 - Complaint Partly Upheld