Information Commissioner's Office

Nottingham City Council

3 April 2017, Local government (City council)

The complainant has requested information concerning Nottingham City Council’s ‘Begging: Watch Your Money’ campaign. He particularly seeks the identity of the agency that produced advertisements, the amount of money paid to the agency by the Council and the name of the person who authorised the campaign. Following the Commissioner’s intervention, the Council disclosed to the complainant the name of the person who authorised the campaign but continued to rely on section 38 to withhold the name of the agency and the amount of money the agency was paid. The Commissioner has decided that the Council has complied with section 1 of the FOIA in respect of part 3 of the complainant’s request. However, because the Council’s disclosure was made significantly after the twenty day compliance period, the Commissioner is obliged to find that the Council has contravened section 10 of the FOIA. The Commissioner has also considered the Council’s reliance on section 38 of the FOIA to withhold the information requested by the complainant at parts 1 and 2 of his request. She has decided that Nottingham City Council is entitled to rely on section 38 of the FOIA on the grounds that this best serves the public interest.

FOI 38: Not upheld FOI 10: Upheld