Mr. Bruno
By email
(xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx)
24 August 2020
Dear Mr. Bruno,
I refer to your email dated 13 August 2020 in which you requested the following
information:
What improvement schemes and their costs were carried out in Drumtara,
Ballymena in each year from 2000 onwards?
I am writing to confirm that the Housing Executive has processed your request as a
request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and is providing the
following information:
Previous schemes carried out at Drumtara, Ballymena
Scheme Type
Project No.
Addresses
Date of
Possession
Heating 07.66.1007
91
addresses
2019
Heating 07.66.0028
39
addresses
2012
ECM 07.78.0058
All
2011
ECM 07.78.0046
All
2001
Double Glazing
Records are indicating All 2002
that double glazing
was installed in 2002 -
May have been done
in External Cyclical
Maintenance (ECM)
scheme 07.78.0046
In respect of your request regarding the costs, the Housing Executive’s view is that the
costs in this report are commercially sensitive. I have sought advice from our GDPR Team
in relation to your FOI request regarding the disclosure of the costs in respect of the above
mentioned schemes that were carried out in Drumtara, Ballymena in each year from 2000
onwards.
We have concluded that the exemption in
Section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act
2000 applies to that information, because its disclosure under the Act would be likely to
prejudice the commercial interests of the Housing Executive and relevant contractors, and
therefore have applied redactions to this information.
43 Commercial interests
(1) Information is exempt information if it constitutes a trade secret.
(2) Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be
likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public
authority holding it).
(3) Section 43(2) is a ‘qualified’ exemption and I must now go on to consider if the public
interest is in favour of maintaining the exemption or vice versa. On weighing the
factors for and against disclosure, I have concluded that the public interest lies in not
disclosing the information. I have set out below the factors which I have taken into
account in reaching my conclusion.
Factors in favour of disclosure
There is a rebuttable presumption in favour of disclosure. I accept that there is a general
public interest in transparency and accountability, and in understanding the reason why
certain decisions were made and how public money is spent.
Factors in maintaining exemption
There is a strong public interest in public bodies being able to contract services effectively,
so anything which prevents that (such as companies being fearful that commercially
sensitive information such as pricing of services will be disclosed to their competitors) will
not be in the public interest.
If you feel that this response does not adequately meet your response, please contact our
Asset Management FOI Co-ordinator, Girlie Nuguid on (028) 9598 5003 or by email
xxxxxx.xxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx in the first instance.
You have the right to request a formal review by the Housing Executive within two
calendar months of the date of this letter. If you wish to do this, please contact us by email
at xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
Following an internal review, if you find that you are still dissatisfied with the response, you
have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at The Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Leeann Vincent
Assistant Director, Project Delivery
Asset Management
