Secretary of State for the Home Department (Home Office)

The complainant requested from the Home Office information concerning its contracts with VFS Global / VF Worldwide Services. The Home Office provided some details relating to the information requested and withheld the remaining information under section 43(2) (commercial interests) of FOIA. 
The Commissioner’s decision is the Home Office was entitled to rely on section 43(2) of FOIA to withhold only some of the information requested. He finds that not all of the information is commercially sensitive, therefore section 43(2) of FOIA is not engaged.
The Commissioner requires the Home Office to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: 
•     Disclose the information detailed within the confidential annex to this notice, The annex has been made available to the Home Office only. 
The public authority must take this step within 30 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.