London Borough of Waltham Forest

The complainant requested a copy of the council’s anti-fraud team’s report concerning the payment of £240,000 to a private contractor employed to run the authority’s education service. The council refused disclosure of the report under s22, s31(1)(g), s40(2) and s43(2) of the Act. The Commissioner decided that the exemptions at s22 and s31(1)(g) were not engaged. He also used his discretion not to consider the exemption at s43(2) as the council failed to rely upon it until during the course of his investigation. The Commissioner found the exemption at s40(2) to be engaged and identified items of personal data that required redaction prior to disclosure of the report. The Commissioner found that the council failed to comply with s10(1), s17(1), s17(1)(b) and s(17)1)(c) of the Act.