The complainant has requested monitoring information from the Office of the Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner (‘the OPCC’) about community grant awards. The OPCC directed the complainant to information which it published on its website about the grants that it awards. It also disclosed a substantial amount of information. However, it refused to disclose some information on the grounds that it was exempt under sections 31 (law enforcement), 36 (prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs), 40 (personal information) and 43 (commercial interests) of the FOIA. The complainant disputed the application of the exemptions and also believed that the OPCC held further information which it had not disclosed. The Commissioner’s decision is that, on the balance of probabilities, the OPCC does not hold any further information beyond what has already been identified in the course of responding to this request. The Commissioner also finds that the OPCC was entitled to withhold information under section 40 of the FOIA. However, she finds that it failed to demonstrate that sections 31, 36 and 43 of the FOIA were engaged. She also finds that it breached sections 1 and 10 of the FOIA by failing to respond to the request within the statutory time for compliance. The Commissioner requires the OPCC to: disclose the Monitoring and Evaluation Plan for the Civil Orders project; disclose the 2018-19 and 2019-20 Half Year Monitoring forms for the Civil Orders project, with the exception of the information at part 4 (case studies) on both forms, which the Commissioner has found is exempt under section 40(2) of the FOIA. Names, job titles and contact information may be redacted, in line with the Commissioner’s finding on section 40(2) of the FOIA; disclose the quarterly monitoring information in respect of the Gangs project. Any names, job titles and contact information may be redacted, in line with the Commissioner’s finding on section 40(2) of the FOIA; disclose the ACCM Monitoring and Evaluation Plan and Year End Finance Report. Any names, job titles and contact information may be redacted, in line with the Commissioner’s finding on section 40(2) of the FOIA. The complainant has confirmed he does not require banking information; disclose the Luton and Bedfordshire Youth Offending Services (Triage Custody) diversion statistics which were redacted from the final evaluation form; and disclose the information withheld under section 43 in respect of the two organisations identified in the confidential annex . .
FOI 31: Complaint upheld FOI 10: Complaint upheld FOI 43: Complaint upheld FOI 40: Complaint not upheld FOI 36: Complaint upheld FOI 1: Complaint not upheld
Citations:
[2020] UKICO IC-45552-T6L7
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Information
Updated: 19 July 2022; Ref: scu.656082