Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
- Date 15 July 2024
- Sector Central government
- Decision(s) FOI 38: Partly upheld, FOI 40: Not upheld, FOI 43: Partly upheld
The complainant submitted a request to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office seeking a copy of a contract between it and Zinc Network Ltd. It initially withheld the contract in full on the basis of sections 43(2) (commercial interests), 38(1)(a) and (b) (health and safety) and 40(2) (personal data) of FOIA. It subsequently disclosed a redacted version of the contract, relying on the previously cited exemptions to withhold parts of it. The Commissioner’s decision is that the majority of the redacted material is exempt from disclosure on the basis of section 43(2) of FOIA and that section 40(2) provides a basis to redact personal data contained in the contract. However, the Commissioner has also concluded that the part of the contract containing the statement of the FCDO’s requirements (SoR) is not exempt from disclosure on the basis of section 43(2) of FOIA. Furthermore the redactions made on pages 3 and 7 of the contract are not exempt from disclosure on the basis of section 38(1)(b) of FOIA.