Information Commissioner's Office

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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Information Commissioner's Office >> Birmingham City Council (Local government) [2021] UKICO ic-76745 (14 December 2021)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKICO/2021/ic-76745.html
Cite as: [2021] UKICO ic-76745

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Birmingham City Council

The complainant has requested information relating to the bids submitted for the purchase of a particular site owned by Birmingham City Council (the council). The council initially refused the request in its entirety, citing section 43(2) of the FOIA - commercial interests. However, at the internal review stage, it released some information to the complainant. During the Commissioner’s investigation, the council then agreed to release some additional information. The Commissioner is satisfied that the council is entitled to rely on section 43(2) of the FOIA, in respect of the remaining information that has been withheld. However, as a result of the late disclosure of information, and the time it took the council to issue a refusal notice, the Commissioner has found a breach of sections 1, 10, and 17 of the FOI. Furthermore, the council failed to release a full set of redacted letters which it held that were relevant to the complainant’s request, which is a further breach of section 1 of the FOIA. However, after redaction, the letters become identical in content to those that have already been released; therefore, the Commissioner does not require the council to take any further steps in this regard. The Commissioner does require the council to release the information set out in paragraph 26 of this decision notice (in the redacted format it proposed to the Commissioner), if it has not already done so.

FOI 17: Complaint upheld FOI 43: Complaint not upheld FOI 10: Complaint upheld FOI 1: Complaint upheld

Decision notice: ic-76745