The BBC FOI blog has analysed the percentage of approvals that the Information Commissioner has given to use of exemptions that public authorities in cases before it. As the blog states, this is inevitably a 'crude exercise'. However, the figures are worth a look all the same.
Advisors to the public sector and businesses who deal with the public sector on contractual matters, some of the figures are of particular interest:
- The commercial interests exemption was successful only 28% of the time. Are public bodies and the businesses they deal with seeking to rely on this exemption too often, or seeking to apply it too broadly?
- 'Intended for future publication' was successful a mere 25% of the time, suggesting that public bodies need serious justification for withholding from disclosure materials intended for future publication.
Other figures will be of more interest to those concerned about wider public policy. For example, the security services exemption had a 100% success rate.
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