Imperial College London

The complainant has requested details of cleaning subcontractors. The above public authority disclosed the number of roles, but not the number of staff deployed. It relied on section 43 of FOIA (commercial interests) to withhold the latter number. The Commissioner’s decision is that the public authority has failed to demonstrate why section 43 applies and is therefore not entitled to rely on this exemption to withhold information. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. Disclose, to the complainant, the total number of individual staff.