Brighton & Hove City Council

The complainant requested information from Brighton and Hove City Council (“the Council”) relating to a secondary school admissions consultation. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council is entitled to rely on section 36(2)(b)(ii) (prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs) of FOIA to withhold some information within the scope of the request. The Commissioner also finds that the Council is entitled to rely on section 42(1) (legal professional privilege) to withhold some information within the scope of the request. However, he finds that the Council is not entitled to rely on section 42(1) to withhold some information. The Commissioner finds that the Council has breached section 17(3) of FOIA by failing to complete its public interest test deliberations within a reasonable timeframe. The Commissioner requires the Council to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. In respect of the information which the Commissioner finds does not engage section 42(1) of FOIA, indicated in the closed annex, the Council must disclose that information to the complainant making appropriate personal data redactions as described at paragraph 47 of this notice. The Council must take these steps 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.