Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant made a freedom of information request to the University of Salford for details of its rental costs for its MediaCity site. The public authority initially responded to the request by saying that the information was exempt from disclosure under section 21 (Information accessible by other means). The public authority subsequently carried out an internal review of its handling of the request at which point it acknowledged that the section 21 exemption did not apply but that it now considered that the information was exempt from disclosure under section 43 (Commercial interests). The Commissioner has investigated the complaint and has found that section 43(2) is not engaged. The Commissioner also found that in its handling of the request the public authority breached section (1)(b) (General right of access), section 10(1) (Time for compliance), and sections 17(1), 17(1)(b) and 17(1)(c) (Refusal of request). The Commissioner requires the public authority to make the requested information available to the complainant within 35 calendar days of the date of this notice.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 10 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 17 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 43 - Complaint Upheld