Sheffield Hallam University

The complainant requested under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the ‘Act’) that he received the workplace email addresses of all of the public authority’s staff. The public authority confirmed that it held the information, but believed that it was exempt. It applied section 36(2)(c) [disclosure would prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs], section 40(2) [third party personal data] and section 31(1)(a)[disclosure would be likely to prejudice the prevention of crime] to the information. The complainant requested an internal review and the public authority maintained its position. The complainant then referred this case to the Commissioner. The Commissioner has carefully considered this case and has determined that he does not uphold the complaint. He finds that section 36(2)(c) was engaged and that in all the circumstances the public interest favoured the maintenance of the exemption over the disclosure of the information. He has therefore not considered the operation of either section 40(2) or section 31(1)(a). He did find a procedural breach of section 17(3), but requires no remedial steps to be taken. Information Tribunal appeal number EA/2011/0061 dismissed.