Information Commissioner's Office

BBC

29 June 2015, Other

The complainant has requested information about expenses claims made by Tony Hall, Director General from 10 September 2013 to the date of the request. The BBC refused to provide the requested information under sections 14, 21, 22, 38 and 40(2) FOIA. It also said that some information was not subject to FOIA as it is held for the purposes of ‘journalism, art or literature’. The Commissioner’s decision is that the BBC has correctly applied section 22 and section 40(2) FOIA to some of the withheld information.  The BBC correctly stated that some information was held for the purposes of journalism, art or literature and therefore the BBC was not obliged to comply with Parts I to V of FOIA. The BBC incorrectly applied section 14 to the request and section 21, section 38 and section 40(2) FOIA to some of the withheld information. The Commissioner requires the public authority to disclose the information withheld under section 38 FOIA and the names of attendees and menu information withheld under section 40(2) FOIA. 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.

FOI 14: Upheld FOI 21: Upheld FOI 22: Not upheld FOI 38: Upheld FOI 40: Not upheld