Information Commissioner's Office

Department for Education

21 November 2017, Central government

The complainant has requested information from the Education Funding Agency (“EFA”) relating to the amount of deposit paid for a specific site. As an executive agency of the Department for Education (“DfE”), the EFA does not constitute a public authority for the purposes of FOIA and so this notice is issued to its parent Department, the DfE. The Commissioner’s decision is that the DfE has incorrectly applied regulation 12(5)(e) (commercial interests) to the amount of deposit paid for the site. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps ensure compliance with the legislation: Provide the complainant with the monetary figure of the 10% deposit paid for the Bowring site. The DfE must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.

EIR 12(5)(e): Upheld