Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant made a request to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) for copies of information related to a complaint that had been made against an employment agency and which had been investigated by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, a part of BIS. BIS refused the request under the exemption in section 44 (prohibitions on disclosure) of FOIA by virtue of section 9(4)(a) of the Employment Agencies Act 1973. The section 30 (investigations) exemption was also applied. The Commissioner has investigated the complaint and found that section 44 is engaged for only some of the withheld information. Where section 44 does not apply the Commissioner found that the section 30 exemption was engaged but that the public interest in maintaining the exemption did not outweigh the public interest in disclosure. The Commissioner requires the public authority to disclose to the complainant redacted copies of the information falling within the scope of the request.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 30 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 44 - Complaint Not upheld