Dear Mr. Dunschen,

Freedom of Information Request

I refer to your request for information made on 21 January 2008.

That request was not from a named person, instead arriving from an email name of `Government Spy'. The request was for:

A copy of the contract signed between Liverpool City Council and Parkman on 01/10/2003 relating to 2020 as announced on your website.

That request was answered on 19 March 2008 and you were provided with a redacted copy of that contract.

Four pages were redacted from the contract. Pages 11, 40 and 42 were redacted on the basis of Section 43; and Page 30 was redacted on the basis of Section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

You complained about the basis of the redactions on April 22, 2008 and asked for an unredacted copy to be provided to you.

Your matter has now been given to me to review. I apologise for the delay that has occurred in getting to this point.

The result of my review is contained in this letter.

Before commencing the review I wrote to you on 29 April 2009 asking you to confirm your identity, as the original request was not compliant with Section 8(1) of the FOIA and was therefore not a valid request for information.

You replied on 3 May 2009, and confirmed that your name was Martin Dunschen.

After receiving this confirmation, I commenced the review in your matter.

Regarding the information redacted from page Page 30, Schedule 1 under Section 40 of the FOIA, I have considered your arguments and am prepared to release this information on the basis that this information is publicly available via Companies House, and therefore unlikely to be considered exempt under Section 40 of the Act. An unredacted copy of this page of the contract is attached to this email.

I have also given careful consideration to the release of the information redacted on pages 11, 40 and 42 on the basis of Section 43. I have also given careful consideration to the submissions that you made on 22 April 2008 regarding why Section 43 was not applicable to this information.

The redacted information consists of figures and percentages, which the Council still considers to be commercially sensitive. The Council does not agree with your argument made on 22 April 2008 that this information is available via Companies House, and is therefore already in the public domain.

The Council therefore stands by its decision that release of this information would be contrary to the commercial interests of the Council and Mouchel Parkman, and is therefore still unwilling to release this information to you, citing the exemption contained in Section 43 of the FOIA.

The Council maintains that release of this information would affect the Council's ability to negotiate future contracts, in that release of this information could drive up prices that are charged by companies negotiating with the Council, if this information was released into the public domain. This would therefore be contrary to the Council's commercial interests.

The Council therefore believes that release of this information would prejudice its capacity to participate effectively in future contract negotiations.

Contracts such as the one you have requested are negotiated in a competitive environment, with the Council negotiating with companies nation wide. As such contract negotiations are undertaken in a competitive environment, the Council needs to be able to maintain its bargaining position with regard to future contracts.

Section 43 is a qualified exemption, and I am therefore required to apply a public interest test.

I have therefore considered whether the public interest in withholding this information outweighs the public interest in disclosing this information.

In favour of disclosure I have considered the following points:

However I consider that the public interest in allowing the Council to compete fairly regarding contract negotiations outweighs these arguments in this instance.

I also consider that ensuring future competition in future contracts is an important public interest argument opposing release of this information.

I have also considered the effect that release of this information might have on the cost of future contracts, and the cost to the public purse in the event that contract costs and percentages went up as a result of the release of this information. The Council considers this to be an important public interest argument and one that outweighs the public's right to know in this instance.

When deciding about the withholding of this information I have also considered that the bulk of the contract has been provided to you, and therefore into the public domain, on an unredacted basis. The majority of the contract is therefore available for public scrutiny. I am therefore satisfied that an acceptable balance has been met regarding the Council's obligations to release information under the FOIA, and the need to protect sensitive commercial information which could prejudice the Council's commercial interests.

Regarding your argument made on 22 April 2008, that the information redacted was available via Companies House, you will note my previous comments regarding the Council's disagreement with this statement.

However even if this were to be true, the Council would consider that this information was otherwise accessible to the public, even though a small fee had to be charged to access this information. The Council would therefore deem this information to be exempt information under Section 21 of the FOIA. No[Author ID1: at Tue May 5 12:00:00 2009 ]

In the event that you remain unsatisfied with the result of the Council's review in this matter, I remind you of your right to complain to the Information Commissioner. Their details are:

Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, Telephone 01625 545745.

Yours sincerely

[Author ID1: at Tue May 5 12:00:00 2009 ]

W Twigge[Author ID1: at Tue May 5 12:00:00 2009 ] (per [Author ID1: at Tue May 5 12:00:00 2009 ]Edwina Hunter

Principal [Author ID1: at Tue May 5 12:00:00 2009 ]Information Manager[Author ID1: at Tue May 5 12:00:00 2009 ]Officer[Author ID1: at Tue May 5 12:00:00 2009 ]

Liverpool City Council

Wendy Twigge Information Manager Legal Services

Municipal Buildings, Dale Street, Liverpool, L2 2DH

tel: 0151 225 3132 fax: 0151 225 2392 email: [email address]