The Disclosure and Barring Service ('DBS')

The complainant submitted a request to the Disclosure and Barring Service (“DBS”) for information on the reasons and legal basis for the barring of a named individual from working with children.
The DBS relied on section 40(5B) of FOIA (personal information) to withhold the information.
The Commissioner’s decision is that, due to information which was already in the public domain when the request was made, the DBS should have relied on section 40(2) of FOIA (personal information) to withhold the information and the Commissioner has therefore proactively applied this exemption.
The Commissioner does not require further steps as a result of this decision notice.