Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

The complainant has requested the Office of Government Commerce (‘OGC’) Gateway Reviews on smart metering from May 2012 onwards. The Commissioner’s decision is that BEIS correctly considered the request under the EIR and regulation 12(4)(e) – internal communications is engaged in respect of the withheld information. Nevertheless, she has decided that the public interest favours disclosure. The Commissioner finds BEIS in breach of regulation 11(4) for the failure to provide the complainant with its reconsideration within 40 working days. The Commissioner requires the public authority to disclose in full the Reviews of March 2015, March 2016 and November 2016 with the exception of the names of junior staff/officials. The public authority must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court. Information Tribunal appeal EA/2019/0162 under appeal.