Ministry of Justice

The complainant requested information about proprietary financial models used in pilot Payment By Results (PBR) schemes at HM prisons at Doncaster and Peterborough during the bidding process for other relevant contracts. The Commissioner’s decision is that MOJ acted correctly in refusing the request since the section 43(2) commercial interests exemption is engaged and, at the date of the information request (and still at the date of the internal review), the balance of the public interest favoured maintaining the exemption. The Commissioner does not require the public authority to take any steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. Information Tribunal appeal EA/2013/0017 dismissed.