Information Commissioner's Office

Devon County Council

18 September 2017, Local government (County council)

The complainant asked Devon County Council for a copy of a contract between the Council and Babcock Learning and Development Partnership (“Babcock LDP”), including information concerning the Key Performance Indicators, monitoring of the contract, service specifications and the full financial values of the contract. The Council initially confirmed that it holds the information requested by the complainant but it refused to disclose this information on the grounds that it is commercially sensitive and subject to the exemption to disclosure provided by section 43 of the FOIA. The Council’s position was reversed at internal review and information was disclosed to the complainant via the Council’s website. The Commissioner’s decision is that Devon County Council has provided the complainant with the information she had requested and thereby it has satisfied section 1(1) of the FOIA. The Commissioner has also decided that the Council has breached section 10 of the FOIA by failing to provide the information requested by the complainant within the twenty working days compliance period which section 10 requires.

FOI 1: Not upheld FOI 10: Upheld