Sheffield City Council

The complainant has requested information on a complete and up-to-date list of all business (non-residential) property rates data held by Sheffield City Council. The council applied Sections 21, 22, 31(1)(a), 31(1)(d) and 40 to withhold the information. The complainant made a complaint about the application section 31 to the Commissioner. The Commissioner’s decision is that the council was not correct to apply the exemptions in section 41 to the information. She has also decided that whilst the council was correct in that sections 31(1)(a) and 31(1)(d) were engaged, the public interest in the disclosure of the information outweighs that in the exemptions being maintained in this instance. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. To disclose the withheld information to the complainant. This decision notice is currently under appeal to the Tribunal.