11 September 2014, Central government
The complainant submitted a request to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) for information about its discussions with the University of St Andrews concerning the latter’s proposed development of six wind turbines and the impact of this development on the radar systems at RAF Leuchars. The MOD withheld the requested information on the basis of regulations 12(5)(a) (national security and public safety) and regulation 12(5)(e) (confidentiality of commercial information) of the EIR. The Commissioner’s decision is that the requested information is exempt from disclosure on the basis of regulation 12(5)(e) and that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exception outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. The Commissioner has, however, concluded that the MOD breached regulation 11(4) by failing to complete the internal review within 40 working days.
EIR 12(5)(e): Not upheld