South Yorkshire Police

The complainant made an eight part request for information about the National Firearms Licence Management System. The public authority stated that the majority of the information requested was not held and the Commissioner finds that the public authority complied with the requirement of section 1(1)(a) in relation to these parts of the request. In relation to the information that it confirmed was held, the public authority cited the exemptions provided by sections 31(1)(a) (prejudice to the prevention or detection of crime) and 43(2) (prejudice to commercial interests). The Commissioner finds that the exemption provided by section 31(1)(a) is engaged and that the public interest favours the maintenance of this exemption. However, the Commissioner also finds that the public authority failed to comply with the procedural requirements of sections 10(1), 17(1)(b) and 17(1)(c) through its handling of the request.