Mid Devon District Council

The complainant requested a copy of a report from Mid Devon District Council (“the Council”). The Council disclosed the majority of the report and some appendices during the course of the Commissioner’s investigation, however, it has continued to withhold some of the requested information, citing section 40(2) (personal data) and section 42 (legal professional privilege) of FOIA as its basis for doing so.

The Commissioner’s decision is that: The Council should have considered the request under the EIR rather than FOIA; The Council is entitled to rely on regulation 12(5)(b) (course of justice) of the EIR to withhold the information it had withheld under section 42 (legal professional privilege) of FOIA; The Council is entitled to rely on regulation 13 (personal data) of the EIR to withhold some, but not all, of the information it had withheld under section 40(2) (personal data) of FOIA.

The Commissioner requires the Council to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: Disclose the name and email address of the Head of Audit Partnership at Devon Audit Partnership, the name of the project manager, and all of the salary/staff costs information that it had withheld other than the breakdown of the staff costs for the project manager (into salary, national insurance and pension).