Buckinghamshire Council
- Date 5 March 2020
- Sector Local government
- Decision(s) FOI 10(1): Upheld, FOI 17: Upheld, FOI 40(2): Not upheld, FOI 41: Not upheld
The complainant has requested from Buckinghamshire County Council (“the Council”), information in relation to a report taken during a meeting after a reported safeguarding concern. The Council provided the complainant with her own personal information, extracted from the report, but advised that it was withholding the rest of the information under section 40(2) of the FOIA – personal information, and section 41(1) – information provided in confidence. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council is entitled to rely on section 40(2) of the FOIA and section 41(1) of the FOIA to refuse to provide the requested information. However, in issuing its initial response, the Council breached sections 10(1) and 17(1) of the FOIA respectively, since it issued the response outside the statutory time for compliance and did not correctly cite the exemptions which it was relying on to withhold the information. The Commissioner does not require the Council to take any steps in relation to this complaint.