The complainant made a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) for information relating to MOT passes and failures broken down by manufacturer and model of car. VOSA refused the complainant’s request as it stated that the information was exempt from disclosure by virtue of section 43(2) of the Act. The Commissioner has reviewed the withheld information and has decided that section 43(2) is not engaged. The Commissioner also considers that some of the requested information constitutes environmental information and should have been considered under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR). Upon the consideration of the arguments provided by VOSA in relation to its application of section 43(2) of the Act, the Commissioner does not consider that any of the exceptions under EIR would be applicable in this case. Therefore VOSA breached Regulation 5(1) as it did not provide the complainant with the requested environmental information.
Section of Act/EIR and Finding: FOI 10 – Complaint Upheld, FOI 43 – Complaint Upheld, EIR 5 – Complaint Upheld
Citations:
[2009] UKICO FS50214210
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Information
Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.532458
