Historic England

The complainant requested information relating to the award of a grant to the Institute of Detectorists (IoD). Historic England (HE) provided information within the scope of the request but refused to provide the remainder, citing sections 40 (personal information), 43 (commercial interests), 41 information provided in confidence) and 38 (health and safety) of FOIA. It also confirmed it did not hold any further information within the scope of the request. The Commissioner’s decision is that, on a balance of probabilities, HE does not hold any further information falling within the scope of the complainant's request for information. Having investigated its application of sections 40(2), 43(2) and 38(1)(b) to the small amount of withheld information, the Commissioner finds that section 40(2) was correctly applied. However, he finds that HE has not demonstrated that either section 43(2) or section 38(1)(b) are engaged in respect of the information withheld only by virtue of those exemptions. The Commissioner requires HE to take the following step to ensure compliance with the legislation: disclose the information withheld only by virtue of section 43(2) or 38(1)(b) (with the information that engages section 40(2) redacted).