Information Commissioner's Office

Warwick District Council

30 September 2015, Local government (District council)

The complainant has requested a confidential Strategic Opportunity Proposal referred to in the agenda for a meeting of the Council together with a further report on that proposal referred to in the agenda for a subsequent meeting. The Council originally refused the request under section 43 of FOIA. At the internal review stage it reconsidered the request under the EIR and refused it under regulation 12(5)(e). The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council was correct to withhold a limited amount of the requested information under regulation 12(5)(e) however the exception does not apply to the majority of the information. The Commissioner requires the public authority to disclose the information identified by the Commissioner as not falling within the scope of the exception provided by regulation 12(5)(e). The public authority must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court. The Commissioner has also found that the names of two individuals can be redacted from the disputed information under the exception provided by regulation 13 – personal information. This decision notice is currently under appeal to the Tribunal.

FOI 13: Not upheld EIR 12(5)(e): Partly upheld