Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

The complainant has requested information from BEIS regarding the Low Oil and Covid -19 Contingency (“LOCC”) team. BEIS refused the request in reliance of FOIA sections 35(1)(a) – Formulation of government policy, 43(2) – Commercial interests, 42(1) – Legal professional privilege and 40(2) – Personal information. BEIS also relied on the EIR regulations 12(4)(e) – internal communications, 12(5)(e) – confidentiality of commercial or industrial information, 12(5)(b) – the course of justice and 13(1) personal data. The Commissioner’s decision is that BEIS has appropriately applied FOIA section 35(1)(a) to the withheld information and the public interest favours maintaining the exemption. The Commissioner does not requires BEIS to take any steps to ensure compliance with the legislation.