Department for Business Innovation and Skills

The complainant has requested information on the UK companies who applied for and were granted licences for the export of equipment to the Bahrain government. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (DBIS) provided the names of the companies and a description of the equipment listed on the licences but considered the information in the format requested was exempt from disclosure by virtue of section 41 and 43 of the FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that DBIS has correctly applied the section 41 exemption to the withheld information and the public interest favours maintaining the exemption.