Information Commissioner's Office

Cambridgeshire County Council

26 June 2014, Local government (County council)

The complainant has requested a range of information from Cambridgeshire County Council (the Council) about the contracts it had awarded to Fenland Association for Community Transport (FACT). The Council provided the some of the requested information, withheld some information on the basis of sections 40(2) and 43(2) of FOIA, and also argued that some information was not held. The complainant disputed the application of these exemptions and argued that the Council held further information beyond that previously located. The Commissioner’s decision is as follows: In relation to request 1, part (vi), the road names and postcodes of pickup addresses are exempt from disclosure on the basis of section 40(2); In relation to request 1, part (ix), the number of passengers for each journey is exempt from disclosure on the basis of section 40(2); In relation to request 1, part (xiii), the name of the second best bidder for each contract is exempt from disclosure on the basis of section 43(2) and in all the circumstances of the case the public interest favours maintaining the exemption; In relation to request 3, the total value of the contracts paid to FACT is exempt from disclosure on the basis of section 43(2) and in all the circumstances of the case the public interest favours maintaining the exemption; In relation to request 7, the number of contracts and the contract reference numbers which FACT bid on but did not win are not exempt from disclosure on the basis of section 43(2); The Council does not hold information falling within the scope of requests 5 and 6. The Commissioner requires the public authority to provide the complainant with the information falling within the scope of request 7 that it has not previously disclosed, i.e. the number of contracts in 2011 and 2012 that FACT bid on but did not win along with the relevant reference numbers for each contract. Information Tribunal appeal EA/2014/0185 allowed in part.

FOI 1: Not upheld FOI 40: Not upheld