High Speed Two Limited

The complainant requested the amount paid in out-of-court settlements broken down by year. High Speed Two Ltd refused to provide the requested information and relied on section 43 (commercial interests) and 40(2) of FOIA (third party personal data) in order to do so. The Commissioner’s decision is that HS2 Ltd has not demonstrated why section 43 of FOIA applies and consequently is not entitled to rely on this exemption. Section 40(2) is engaged, but only for some of the data. Finally, HS2 Ltd breached section 10 and section 17 of FOIA in respect of this request. The Commissioner requires HS2 Ltd to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: disclose, to the complainant, the data for the years specified in the confidential annex to this Notice.