The complainant submitted a request to the Charity Commission seeking all documents involved in its consideration of complaints about a particular school which was run by a registered charity. The Charity Commission disclosed some documents but withheld further documents on the basis of the exemptions contained at sections 21 (information reasonably accessible by other means), 31(2)(f) to (h) (law enforcement), 40(2) (personal data), 41 (information provided in confidence), 42(1) (legal professional privilege) and 43(2) (commercial interest) of the Act. The complainant subsequently complained to the Commissioner about the application of all of these exemptions with exception of the application of sections 21 and 40(2). During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation the Charity Commission disclosed a number of further documents which it had previously withheld on the basis of sections 31, 41 and/or 43. With regard to the remainder of the information that has not been disclosed the Commissioner has concluded that the majority of this information is exempt from disclosure on the basis of either section 42(1) or sections 31(2)(f) to (g) and in all the circumstances of the case the public interest favours maintaining the exemptions. The only exceptions to this conclusion are a small number of pieces of information which the Commissioner has concluded are not exempt from disclosure by virtue of any of the exemptions cited by the Charity Commission. By failing to disclose this information in response to the request the Commissioner has concluded that the Charity Commission breached sections 1(1)(b) and 10(1) of the Act.
Section of Act/EIR and Finding: FOI 10 – Complaint Upheld, FOI 17 – Complaint Upheld, FOI 31 – Complaint Partly Upheld, FOI 42 – Complaint Partly Upheld
Citations:
[2009] UKICO FS50184898
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Information
Updated: 08 July 2022; Ref: scu.532221