Information Commissioner's Office

Herefordshire Council

9 February 2016, Local government (District council)

The complainant requested information relating to concerns raised about a particular care home. The council refused to supply some information and cited the exemptions under section 43(2) and section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the FOIA”). These exemptions relate to commercial information and third party personal data. The Commissioner’s decision is that the council incorrectly sought to withhold a significant amount of the information using the exemption under section 43(2) and he has therefore found a breach of section 1(1)(b) and 10(1) of the FOIA. However, the Commissioner found that that some information ought to be withheld using the exemption under section 40(2). The Commissioner requires the public authority to take steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. In this case there is a significant amount of information to be released with specific redactions and the Commissioner has therefore set out his steps in Annex A associated with this decision notice.

FOI 1: Upheld FOI 10: Upheld FOI 40: Upheld FOI 43: Partly upheld