Linby-cum-Papplewick Primary School

The complainant has requested information relating to an alleged incident at Linby-cum-Papplewick Primary School (“the School”). The School identified some information and provided this to the complainant. However, it withheld legal advice used to make the decision to redact a police statement on the basis of section 42. It also maintained the police statement was appropriately redacted under section 40(2) of the FOIA. The School identified some further documents during the investigation which it withheld under section 31. The Commissioner’s decision is that the School has correctly applied the provisions of section 40 and 42 to the legal advice and redacted statement respectively. The Commissioner finds the School has incorrectly cited section 31 in relation to the chronologies and that there is a possibility further information may be held. The Commissioner requires the public authority to disclose the chronologies with appropriate redactions for personal data and to conduct searches to identify any additional information and provide the complainant with a formal response under the terms of the FOIA in which it either discloses any recorded information held or issues a valid refusal notice.