Witherley Parish Council

The complainant requested information relating to the circumstances surrounding the purchase of a computer. Witherley Parish Council (the “Council”) provided some information, confirmed other information was not held and refused to provide other information on the basis that it was confidential. During the Commissioner’s investigation the Council confirmed that it was relying on the exemptions in section 31 (law enforcement) and section 40 (personal information) to withhold information. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council should have relied on section 40(5A) and section 40(5B) of the FOIA to refuse to confirm or deny whether any information was held; the Commissioner has decided to apply these exemptions himself proactively and the Council failed to issue a compliant refusal notice and breached section 10(1) and section 17 of the FOIA. The Commissioner does not require the Council to take further steps.