Oxford Direct Services Ltd

The complainant requested information held by Oxford Direct Services Limited (ODSL) which form communications between ODSL and Oxford City Council (the council) about the payment of dividends. ODSL referred the complainant to two recent requests that they had made, stating that it considered that all the information held relating to dividend payments had been released in response to those requests. It also provided the complainant with explanations about payments. During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation, ODSL provided the complainant with copies of emails, redacting some information under section 40(2) (third party personal information) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that ODSL is entitled to rely on section 40(2) of FOIA as its basis for withholding third party personal information. However, he has found a breach of section 10(1) of FOIA as ODSL failed to provide the complainant with the emails relevant to their request within the required 20 working days.The Commissioner’s decision is that, on the balance of probabilities, ODSL does not hold any information relevant to the request in addition to that which has already been provided to the complainant.