REUTERS | Andrew Winning
02/11/2016

Public sector investments and the Freedom of Information Act 2000

On 18 October 2016, the Information Commissioner (IC) issued ICO decision notice FS50627178 which determined that the exemptions in sections 41 (information provided in confidence) and 43(2) (commercial interests) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 were not engaged by a request for quarterly data relating to a local government pension fund’s holdings in seven investment funds. This is unlikely to be a controversial decision in itself but serves as an interesting reminder of relatively well-established principles and the IC’s approaches to private equity and pensions investments made by councils. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Peter Andrews
26/10/2016

FOIA and commercial interests: a level playing field for local authorities?

In County of Poole v Information Commissioner [2016] EA/2016/0074, the First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights) examined the application of the public interest balancing test when the prejudice to commercial interests exemption under section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) is engaged.  The request in this particular case was for information about the charges made by a local authority for services provided schools. The arguments raised by the parties and the tribunal’s analysis of the issues, sheds further light on the impact of FOIA on the commercial realities for local authorities seeking to off-set the effects of local authority budget cuts by selling their services competitively. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Mike Blake
19/10/2016

Education law quarterly digest (August – October 2016)

This is the latest in our series of quarterly education update blogs which will enable readers to catch up on the most important cases, issues or developments in education law from August to October 2016. Please feel free to submit a comment below or send us an Ask query if you have any views on the cases, issues, or legal developments that are covered or if you think we have missed something that should be brought to the attention of education law practitioners.

In this post, we look at:

  • Recent case law.
  • Legislative developments.
  • Government consultations.
  • Government guidance and policy statements.

Continue reading →

REUTERS | Eric Gaillard
18/10/2016

Brexit: What next for public procurement?

So, what happens now?  It appears from the Prime Minister’s speech at the Conservative party conference, and the responses emerging from the EU, that Brexit now means not only Brexit but Hard Brexit: no freedom of movement = no membership of the internal market (although it seems possible that negotiations, when they start, will lead to a more nuanced outcome, for example a hybrid solution where the UK remains effectively in the internal market for some goods and services and not for others). Continue reading →

REUTERS | Eric Gaillard
12/10/2016

Freedom of information law quarterly digest (July-September 2016)

Our quarterly freedom of information law update blogs focus on the latest developments in freedom of information law under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (SI 2004/3391) (EIR). The blog will enable readers advising on freedom of information law to catch up on the most important cases, issues or developments on the topic. This post looks at freedom of information law developments from July to September 2016. In this post, we look at:

  • Recent case law.
  • Legislative developments.
  • The latest government statistics on FOIA requests.
  • The Information Commissioner’s Information Governance Survey for Local Authorities.

Please feel free to submit a comment below or send us an Ask query if you have any views on the cases, issues or developments that are covered, or if you think we have missed something that should be brought to the attention of freedom of information practitioners.

Continue reading →