South Tyneside Council

The complainant requested information relating to complaints made to South Tyneside Council (the Council) about a named company. The Council refused to confirm or deny whether the requested information is held, citing section 44(2) (prohibitions on disclosure) of FOIA. It argued that to confirm or deny whether the information is held would breach the statutory prohibition on disclosure created by section 237 of the Enterprise Act 2002 (the Enterprise Act). The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council correctly applied section 44(2) to neither confirm nor deny whether the requested information is held. The Commissioner requires no steps to be taken as a result of this decision.