The complainant has submitted a 10 part request to Pharmacy2U. Pharmacy2U indicated that it was not a public authority for the purposes of the FOIA for nine parts of the request and relied on section 21 of the FOIA (information accessible to applicant by other means) to withhold information relevant to one part. During the Commissioner’s investigation Pharmacy2U reconsidered its position with regard to the request and issued a fresh response to the complainant. Pharmacy2U confirmed that it considers it is not a public authority for the purposes of the FOIA with regard to parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the request. Pharmacy2U says that information that it holds that is related to parts 7, 8, 9 and 10 is caught by the FOIA but is exempt information under section 43(2) (commercial interests) and the balance of the public interest favours maintaining this exemption. Pharmacy2U has released information relevant to part 6 and directed the complainant to where other information related to this part is published. The complainant is satisfied with Pharmacy2U’s fresh response to part 6 of the request but is dissatisfied with Pharmacy2U’s response to the remaining nine parts. The Commissioner’s decision is as follows: If held, the information requested in parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the request is held for the purposes of the FOIA. Pharmacy2U therefore breached section 1(1)(a) and section 10(1) of the FOIA with regard to these parts. The information the complainant has requested in parts 7, 8, 9 and 10 is exempt information under section 43(2) of the FOIA and the public interest favours maintaining this exemption. Pharmacy2U breached section 17(1) of the FOIA as it did not issue a refusal notice in respect of parts 7, 8, 9 and 10 within 20 working days of the request. The Commissioner requires Pharmacy2U to take the following step to ensure compliance with the legislation: Provide the complainant with a fresh response to parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of his request that complies with the FOIA.
FOI 17: Complaint upheld FOI 10: Complaint upheld FOI 43: Complaint not upheld FOI 1: Complaint upheld
Citations:
[2019] UKICO fs50835478
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Information
Updated: 20 November 2022; Ref: scu.650458