Department for Business Innovation and Skills

The complainant has requested information regarding the settlement of a claim he made against the British Coal Corporation (“BCC”) for an accident he had whilst working in a BCC mine in 1991. The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (“DBIS”) treated part of this request under the DPA, as it considered that some of the requested information was the personal data of the complainant. It applied section 14(1) of the FOIA to the remainder of the request. The Commissioner’s decision is that some of the requested information is the personal data of the complainant and as such this information is exempt from disclosure (under the FOIA) under section 40(1). He has also decided that DBIS has correctly applied section 14(1) to the remainder of the request. He does not require any steps to be taken. Information Tribunal appeal (EA/2013/0072) struck out.