Summary: The complainant has requested information about the purchase of a named residential property by the council and was concerned that the council might not have achieved value for money in its purchases. The Commissioner-™s decision is that the request for a survey report should have been handled under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (Statutory Instrument 2004 No. 3391) (EIRs). He found that the information was excepted under regulation 12(5)(b) and that the public interest favoured maintaining the exception. He decided that a further document, an accountants-™ report, had been correctly withheld under the section 42(1) FOIA exemption and that the public interest favoured maintaining the exemption. The Commissioner does not require the public authority to take any steps to ensure compliance with the legislation.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 42 - Complaint Not upheld, EIR 12.5.b - Complaint Not upheld