BBC

The complainant has requested information about the number of BBC journalists in China who are competent in Chinese. The BBC has explained that this information falls under a category of information covered by the derogation and therefore the BBC is excluded from its obligations under the FOIA with regard to this information. The Information Commissioner’s decision is that this category of information is held by the BBC for the purposes of ‘journalism, art or literature’ and does not fall under the FOIA. He therefore upholds the BBC’s position and requires no steps to be taken.