Information Commissioner's Office

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

3 March 2016, Local government (Borough council)

The complainant has requested information relating to whether the Council had an obligation to reimburse tenants of Salisbury Independent Living (SIL) money he believed they were owed. Ultimately the Council provided much of the information requested but continued to withhold other information under the exemptions provided by section 42 – legal professional privilege and section 30(2) – confidential sources. During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation the Council also applied sections 36 – prejudice to the conduct of public affairs, and 31 - law enforcement. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council is entitled to rely on the exemptions provided by section 42 and 36 to withhold the requested information. The Commissioner does not require the public authority to take any further action in this matter. However the Commissioner does find that the Council failed to respond with the request within twenty working days of its receipt. This is a breach of section 10.

FOI 10: Upheld FOI 36: Not upheld FOI 42: Not upheld