Department for the Economy

The complainant has requested information about the expansion of Magee College. The above public authority provided some information, but relied on sections 35 (government policy, 43 (commercial interests) and 40 (personal data) of FOIA to withhold the remainder. The Commissioner’s decision is that the public authority has correctly engaged section 35 of FOIA, but that the balance of the public interest only favours maintaining the exemption in respect of some of the withheld information. For the remainder, it favours disclosure. Section 43 is engaged in respect of some of the information to which it has been applied, but not all. Where the exemption is engaged, the balance of the public interest favours maintaining the exemption. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. Disclose the information specified in the confidential annex. The public authority may make appropriate redactions to comply with its data protection obligations.