West Yorkshire Combined Authority

The complainant has requested information which concerns the procurement process of contracts between West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Proventure, Xenonex and ICE Creates Ltd for executive coaching. The complainant has also asked to be given details of any payment made to the Authority’s former Director of Policy, Strategy and Communications. The Authority has refused to provide the complainant with certain pieces of information which are relevant to the procurement and awarding of its contracts for executive coaching in reliance on section 43 of the FOIA. The Authority has also refused to confirm or deny whether it holds information relating to any payments made to its former Director of Policy, Strategy and Communications in reliance on section 40(5) of the FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that West Yorkshire Combined Authority has properly applied the exemptions provided by section 43(2) and 40(5) to the information requested by the complainant. The Authority is therefore entitled to withhold information which is commercially sensitive and to neither confirm nor deny whether it’s former Director of Policy, Strategy and Communications received any payment. The Commissioner notes the failure of West Yorkshire Combined Authority to disclose three pieces of recorded information to the complainant, which are relevant to his request and which are not subject to the application of the section 43(2) exemption. The Commissioner has decided that this failure constitutes a breach of section 1 of the FOIA and she requires the Authority to take the following action to ensure compliance with the legislation: