Department for Business & Trade (DBT)

The complainant submitted a request to the Department for Business & Trade (DBT) seeking information about government subsidies in relation to new UK gigafactory being built by Agratas, part of the Tata Group. DBT confirmed that it held information but considered this to be exempt from disclosure on the basis of section 43(2) (commercial interests) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that DBT is entitled to rely on section 43(2) to withhold the information falling within the scope of the request and that the public interest favours maintaining this exemption.