Information Commissioner's Office

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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Information Commissioner's Office >> Birmingham City Council (Local government) [2019] UKICO fs50805864 (9 October 2019)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKICO/2019/fs50805864.html
Cite as: [2019] UKICO fs50805864

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Birmingham City Council

The complainant has requested information about a meeting held between Michael Gove and Sir Albert Bore in February 2014 regarding the ‘Trojan Horse’ letter.  The Council withheld the information citing sections 30(2)(a) and (b) – information provided in confidence for the purpose of conducting investigations, and 40(2) – third party personal data, of the FOIA.  The Commissioner’s decision is that Birmingham City Council has incorrectly applied section 30(2) of the FOIA to the withheld information.  She finds that section 40(2) can only be relied on for the personal data of administrative staff.  She also finds that the Council breached sections 1 and 10 respectively of the FOIA by failing to identify all information falling within the scope of the request, and failing to respond to the request within 20 working days.  The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: Disclose all the information supplied by the Council titled ‘Appendix 2’ including that withheld under section 30(2) as detailed in paragraph 28 of this notice; Disclose the personal data within these documents, with the exception of staff listed in Confidential Annex A.  The public authority 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.

FOI 30(2): Complaint upheld FOI 10: Complaint upheld FOI 40(2): Complaint partly upheld FOI 1: Complaint upheld

Decision notice: fs50805864