Wandsworth Borough Council

The complainant requested copies of all communications between specified individuals on particular dates, relating to the application and procedures to be followed for a deputation from Wandsworth Friends of Palestine and Richmond Palestine Solidarity Campaign to a Pensions Committee meeting on 15 October 2024. The London Borough of Wandsworth (the ‘Council’) refused to provide any information, citing the FOIA exemptions in section 36 (prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs) and section 38 (health and safety etc). During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation, the Council partly revised its position and disclosed some emails with personal information redacted under section 40(2) of FOIA. The complainant confirmed that any consideration of section 40(2) could be scoped out of the Commissioner’s investigation, so the Commissioner has not considered this aspect any further. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council was entitled to rely on sections 36(2)(b)(i) and (ii) of FOIA to withhold the remaining information in scope. As he has found section 36 to apply to all the withheld information, the Commissioner has not deemed it necessary to consider the Council’s additional reliance on section 38 of FOIA, applied to some parts of that information. No steps are required as a result of this decision.