Information Commissioner's Office

Department of Education Northern Ireland

16 February 2017, Central government

The complainant has requested information from the Department of Education Northern Ireland (DENI) relating to an inspection carried out of St John the Baptist Primary School, Finaghy, Belfast.  DENI disclosed some of the requested information, however it refused to disclose the remainder (the withheld information) citing sections 33, 40(2) and 41 of the FOIA as a basis for non-disclosure.  The Commissioner’s decision is that the DENI has correctly applied section 33 of the FOIA to the majority of the withheld information, however there is one part of the withheld information to which it has been incorrectly applied.  The Commissioner has further decided that the redactions made by the DENI under section 40(2) of the FOIA in relation to some of the information it disclosed under part 6 of the request were appropriate, and therefore DENI correctly applied section 40(2) of the FOIA to that part of the requested information.  As the Commissioner considers that the majority of the withheld information, bar the one piece of information mentioned above, is exempt from disclosure under either section 33(1) or 40(2) of the FOIA, she has not   gone on to consider DENI’s application of section 41 to part of the withheld information.

FOI 33: Partly upheld FOI 40: Not upheld