Companies House

The complainant has requested from Companies House (CH) information about the late filing of accounts by ThamesWey Group. CH denied holding some information described in the request and withheld other information citing section 31(1)(g) and section 31(2)(c) (law enforcement), section 41 (information provided in confidence) and section 40(2) (personal data) as its basis for doing so. CH upheld its position on appeal. CH disclosed further information during the Commissioner’s investigation. CH also introduced reliance on section 30 (investigations and proceedings) for most of the information to which it had previously applied section 31.The Commissioner’s decision is that CH does not hold any further information within the scope of the complainant’s request and that it is entitled to rely on sections 30 and section 40 for most of the information that remains withheld. The Commissioner did not consider section 41 because it had applied that to information already exempt from disclosure under section 30. However, the Commissioner concluded that CH cannot rely on section 31 for the small piece of information to which it applied that exemption. The Commissioner requires CH to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: Disclose the information to which it applied section 31. qaThe public authority must take these steps within 30 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.