Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainants requested from the Government Office for the North East (-�GONE-�) all internal communications in connection with GONE-�s involvement in an appeal relating to a particular legal claim between the complainants and Blyth Valley Borough Council. The request also referred to any communications between two named individuals employed by GONE and Blyth Valley Borough Council relating to the same matter. Relevant information had already been released in response to an earlier request for the same information. In response to this request, the Council released some further information. However, it stated that it wished to withhold various parts of the information using the exceptions under regulation 12(5)(b), 12(5)(f) and 13(1) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (-�the EIR-�). In relation to the first two exceptions, GONE considered that the public interest favoured maintenance of the exceptions. The Information Commissioner (-�the Commissioner-�) decided that regulation 12(5)(b) was engaged in relation to some legal advice and that the public interest favoured withholding it. The Commissioner also accepted that regulation 13(1) was engaged. However, he did not accept the engagement of regulation 12(5)(f). The Commissioner requires the disclosure of this information within 35 days. The Commissioner found breaches of regulation 5(1), 5(2), 14(2) and 14(3) of the EIR.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: EIR 5 - Complaint Upheld, EIR 5 - Complaint Upheld, EIR 12.5.b - Complaint Partly Upheld, EIR 12.5.f - Complaint Upheld, EIR 13 - Complaint Upheld, EIR 14 - Complaint Upheld, EIR 14 - Complaint Upheld