Sunderland City Council

The complainant has requested information about the business tenants at the E-volve Business Centre and Rainton Bridge Business Park regarding the financial support and assistance provided by Sunderland City Council (the council) since opening to the date of the request. The council initially relied on section 43(2) as it considered that the information would prejudice the businesses’ commercial interests. The council also considered that its own commercial interests would be prejudiced. Finally, it relied on section 41 as it considered that if disclosed, the information would in turn disclose information that had been provided in confidence by the businesses. The Commissioner’s decision is that the council has incorrectly applied section 41 and section 43 to withhold the requested information. The Commissioner requires the council to disclose the requested information to the complainant.