Information Commissioner's Office

Department for Education

21 October 2015, Central government

The complainant has requested from the Department for Education (“DfE”) copies of letters sent to Free School applicants in Wave 1, 2 and 3 of the Free Schools programme informing them of the decision to either accept or reject their application and the reasons why. The DfE has disclosed copies of the decision letters sent to the successful applicants but withheld the letters sent to the unsuccessful ones under section 36(2)(c) (prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs). The Commissioner’s decision is that section 36(2)(c) does not apply to the information withheld by the DfE (namely the letters sent to the unsuccessful applicants) as the public interest in maintaining the exemption does not outweigh the public interest in disclosure. The Commissioner requires the public authority disclose to the complainant: Copies of all 590 rejection letters held by the DfE and sent to the unsuccessful applicants to set up Free Schools in Wave 1, 2 and 3 of the Free Schools programme; The DfE is not required to disclose the names, addresses or other personal data of individuals contained within any of the above documents where it believes that the information is exempt from disclosure under section 40(2). 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 36: Upheld