Homes and Communities Agency

The complainant requested a copy of a tracker spreadsheet held by Homes England, relating to Help to Buy Equity Loans for properties that have undergone an EWS1 assessment. Homes England refused to provide the requested information, citing section 40(2) of FOIA (personal information) and section 43(2) of FOIA (commercial interests) as its bases for doing so. The Commissioner’s decision is that: Homes England is entitled to rely on section 40(2) of FOIA to withhold some, but not all, of the information it has withheld on this basis; Home England is entitled to rely on section 43(2) of FOIA to withhold some, but not all, of the information it has withheld on this basis. The Commissioner requires Homes England to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: Disclose all of the headings of the columns on the spreadsheet (ie all of the information in row 1), with the exception of the staff initials included in the heading of column AB as these can be redacted under section 40(2) on the same basis as the other staff initials on the spreadsheet considered in this notice; disclose all of the information in columns A-U, X, AB-AE, AH-AI. Information Tribunal FT/EA/2024/0237 under appeal.