Buckinghamshire Council

The complainant requested correspondence relating to the possibility of free parking for patients of a vaccination centre. Buckinghamshire Council relied on section 36 of FOIA (prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs) to withhold the requested information.
The Commissioner’s decision is that sections 36(2)(b)(i) and 36(2)(b)(ii) are engaged in respect of this information – with the exception of a single email which he considers to be in the public domain. Where these exemptions are engaged, the balance of the public interest favours maintaining the exemption. As the Council failed to issue its refusal notice within 20 working days, it breached section 17 of FOIA. The Commissioner does not require any further steps.