Warrington Borough Council

The complainant requested information about a loan that Warrington Borough Council (the Council) had agreed with a third party. The Council withheld the information requested under sections 41 (information provided in confidence), 42 (legal professional privilege) and 43 (commercial interests) of the FOIA and regulation 12(5)(e) (commercial or industrial information) of the EIR. At the time of its internal review the Council confirmed that the request should have been handled entirely under the EIR. It provided some information but stated that the remaining information was exempt under regulations 12(4)(e) (internal communications), 12(5)(b) (legal professional privilege) and 12(5)(e). The Commissioner’s decision is that regulation 12(5)(b) is engaged and the public interest favours maintaining the exception, regulation 12(4)(e) is engaged and the public interest favours disclosure, and regulation 12(5)(e) is not engaged. The Commissioner also finds that the Council breached regulations 5(2), 14(2) and 11(4) in its handling of the request. The Commissioner requires the Council to disclose the withheld information with the exception of paragraph 7 of the Cabinet Report dated 12 October 2022, ensuring that any personal data is redacted subject to the terms of the Data Protection Act 2018.