Department for Education

The complainant has requested a copy of the minutes of a particular meeting. The above public authority disclosed a heavily redacted version of the minutes and relied on section 36 (prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs) 40 (personal information) and 41 of FOIA (breach of confidence) to withhold the remainder. The Commissioner’s decision is that section 36 of FOIA is engaged but the balance of the public interest favours disclosure. Neither section 41 nor section 40(2) of FOIA is engaged. The public authority also breached section 17 of FOIA because it failed to issue a refusal notice within 20 working days. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: Disclose an unredacted copy of the minutes.