The complainant has requested from the Police Federation of England and Wales (the Federation) information about negotiations between its representatives and Surrey Police, on the issue of over-claimed rest days in lieu (RDIL). The Federation withheld some information, which included meeting minutes and legal advice, under sections 36 (Prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs) and 42 (Legal professional privilege) of the FOIA. It also refused to confirm or deny whether it held some information, citing section 40(5B) (Personal information), and it said that it did not hold some information. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Federation was entitled to apply sections 36 and 42 to withhold information. However, she found that it was not entitled to rely on section 40(5B) to refuse to confirm or deny whether it held information in respect of part (6) of the request. She also found that it did hold some information in respect of part (7) of the request, which it had said that it did not hold, and to which it failed to apply a valid non-disclosure exemption. The Commissioner found breaches of sections 1 and 10 of the FOIA in respect of this information. The Commissioner requires the Federation to issue a fresh response to part (6) of the request, which does not rely on section 40(5B)(a)(i) of the FOIA, and to disclose to the complainant the information it holds which falls within the scope of part (7) of the request.
FOI 42: Complaint not upheld FOI 10: Complaint upheld FOI 40: Complaint upheld FOI 36: Complaint not upheld FOI 1: Complaint upheld
Citations:
[2021] UKICO IC-47737
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Information
Updated: 03 November 2022; Ref: scu.659845