Castle Point Borough Council

The complainant submitted a three-part request to Castle Point Borough Council (the council) for emails exchanged between named individuals, together with copies of relevant agendas and meeting minutes. The complaint concerns the council’s handling of parts 1 and 2 of the request, which it initially refused under various provisions of section 40 (third party personal information) and section 41 (information provided in confidence) of FOIA. During the Commissioner’s investigation, the council advised that it does not hold information within the scope of part 1 of the request and confirmed that it relied on section 40 to withhold all of the information it had identified as falling within the scope of part 2 of the request. The council said it considered that the exemption in section 36 (prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs) was also applicable to some of the information held in relation to part 2 of the request. The Commissioner is satisfied that, on the balance of probabilities, the council does not hold information falling within the scope of part 1 of the request. The council identified two email chains (Email Chain 1 and Email Chain 2) as falling within the scope of part 2 of the request, but only in part. The Commissioner finds that both email chains fall within scope in their entirety. The Commissioner has decided that the council is entitled to rely on section 40 to withhold all of the information contained within Email Chain 1, and part of the information in Email Chain 2. As the council has not cited any exemption in respect of the remaining information in Email Chain 2, that information must be disclosed.