Information Commissioner's Office

Charity Commission

22 February 2017, Local government (Other)

The complainant has requested information from the Charity Commission on the split of the Global Warming Policy Foundation into charitable and trading arms. The Charity Commission disclosed some information but relied on the exemptions at section 31, 40, 41 and 42 of the FOIA to withhold other information it held. The Commissioner’s decision is that section 31 can only be relied on in respect of some of the information to which it has been applied; similarly sections 41 and 40(2) can only be relied on in respect of some of the information to which they have been applied. Section 42 has been correctly applied to withhold all information it has been applied to. The Commissioner requires the public authority to disclose the information which is not protected by any of the exemptions cited as identified in the confidential annex which has been provided to the Charity Commission.

FOI 31: Partly upheld FOI 40: Partly upheld FOI 41: Upheld FOI 42: Not upheld