Manchester City Council

The complainant acts on behalf of the British Blood Transfusion Society (the BBTS). He requested information relating to the council’s removal of charitable discount on a parking space belonging to the BBTS. The council initially treated the request as a request to review its decision to remove the discount rather than as a request under the Act. Once the Commissioner became involved however it reconsidered the position and provided redacted documents to the complainant. The redactions were made under section 42 (legal professional privilege). The complainant however was not satisfied that all of the information had been located and was unhappy at the redactions. The Commissioner's decision is that the council were correct to apply section 42 and that the public interest lies in maintaining the exemption. He has also decided that on a balance of probabilities no further information is held by the council falling within an objective reading of the complainant's request. The Commissioner has however decided that the council breached section 10 of the Act in that it did not initially provide information to which he was entitled to the complainant within 20 working days. The Commissioner does not require the council to take any steps.