West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service

The complainant has requested, from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS), information about the amount that WYFRS has paid in COT3 agreements (ie conciliation agreements involving Acas – the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) over a specified period of time; they also asked WYFRS to “provide the information for individual years”. WYFRS disclosed the total amount for the six-year period in question, but refused to disclose information for individual years, on the basis of section 40(2) (personal information). During the Commissioner’s investigation, WYFRS told the Commissioner that it no longer wishes to withhold the amount paid in the calendar years 2019 and 2022, and went on to disclose the figures for those two calendar years; but it continues to withhold the amount paid in the calendar years 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024 on the basis of section 40(2) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that WYFRS was correct to rely on section 40(2) of FOIA to refuse to disclose the requested information for the calendar years 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024. The Commissioner doesn’t require any steps.