Information Commissioner's Office

Birmingham City Council

18 October 2016, Local government (City council)

The complainant has requested information on equal opportunities claims against the council over previous years. The council withheld the information and applied the exemption in section 36(2)(c) (prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs). The Commissioner’s decision is that council was correct to apply Regulation 36(2)(c) however the public interest in the disclosure of the information outweighs the public interest in the exemption being maintained. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation, to disclose the requested information to the complainant. This decision notice is currently under appeal to the Tribunal.

FOI 30: Upheld