Bournemouth Borough Council

The complainant has requested information about the costs of senior management posts, payments made to individuals and senior management changes within the Council. The requests were made through a number of emails with the Council providing information at various points. In response to the final email sent by the complainant, the Council provided some information but withheld information about the departure of the Chief Executive citing the exemption under section 40(2) of the FOIA – third party personal data. Through the course of the Commissioner’s investigation further information was released to the complainant but as well as relying on section 40(2), it also applied sections 36(2)(b)(i) and 36(2)(b)(ii) and 36(2)(c) – prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs, and section 42 – legal professional privilege, to the withheld information. The Commissioner’s decision is that Bournemouth Borough Council has correctly applied sections 36(2)(b)(i) and (ii), 40(2) and 42 of the FOIA. It was not necessary to consider the application of section 36(2)(c). The Commissioner also finds that the Council failed to respond to one of the complainant’s requests within 20 working days and so has breached section 10(1) of the FOIA. The Commissioner does not require the public authority to take any steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. Information Tribunal appeal EA/2018/0113 dismissed.