Dear Mr Griffiths,

 

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your email dated 14th March, in
which you request the disclosure of information under the provisions of
the above Act. I can confirm that your enquiry will now be assigned to an
officer who will commence a search for the information you require and
they will respond in due course. The deadline date for issuing you with
full response is 16th April. We will endeavour to provide a response well
in advance of this date, however, should we envisage any delays, or
require more details from you, we will contact you immediately.

 

If you have any queries about the above, please do not hesitate to contact
us, quoting ref. 876.353.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

On behalf of the Information Governance Team

 

Information Governance Team

Lancashire County Council

T: 01772 531116

[1]www.lancashire.gov.uk

 

 

 

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Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)

Our reference:876.353

 

Dear Mr Griffiths,

 

Further to your email of 16 March, we are now in a position to respond to
your enquiry regarding Lender Option Borrower Option contracts.

 

1.    How many Lender Option Borrower Option (LOBOs) contracts do you have
on your books?

Two

2.    When were they signed and by whom?

Contract signed by the Deputy Chief Executive of Lancashire County Council
in November 2010

3.    With which financial institutions were they taken out?

RBS

4.    Who advised the council to enter the LOBO(s)?

Lancashire County Council Chief Investment Officer

5.    Since each Contract has been signed, has the lender exercised their
option and changed the interest rate?

No

6.    If so, please specify the dates of the interest rate changes and the
revised interest rates.

n/a

7.    Please provide a copy of the original, signed LOBO agreements.

The council considers that providing the agreements may breech
confidentiality, and contain commercially sensitive and legally privileged
information.

Section 42 of the FOIA states that information which is considered to be
legally privileged is exempt from disclosure. Legal advice privilege
safeguards the right of any person (or organisation) to obtain frank and
realistic legal advice. There is an in built public interest in preserving
such legal professional privilege as expressed in Justice Williams in the
High Court case of DBERR v Dermod O'Brien (EWHC 164 (QB):

"The in-built public interest in withholding information to which legal
professional privilege applies is acknowledged to command significant
weight" (para 53).

Legal professional privilege is an overriding interest which is only
likely to be overweighed by the public interest in disclosure in very
exceptional circumstances, of which this is not one.

Section 43(2) of the FOIA allows a public authority to withhold
information if disclosure would be likely to prejudice the commercial
interests of any person, including the authority and third parties.

In considering the public interest arguments, I accept there is a general
interest in the disclosure of such information to ensure there is
transparency and accountability of public funds. I also acknowledge that
there is also an interest that the Council's activities are conducted in
an open and honest way. However, these interests have to be balanced
against any potential prejudice of the commercial interests of both the
council and the third party. In line with guidance issued by the
Information Commissioner, we contacted RBS to seek their views on the
disclosure of this information. RBS in their response have confirmed that
they believe that the document contains commercially sensitive and
confidential information between RBS and Lancashire County Council, and as
such, its disclosure would be prejudicial to the bank in relation to third
party competitors.

I have to balance any potential benefit for the wider public against any
potential prejudice caused by disclosure. In this case I believe the
greater interest lies in withholding the information as the benefit of the
public access the information would be outweighed by the likely prejudice
caused to the third party and the council.

With this said, this aspect of your request is refused under section 41,
42 and 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act.

 

We trust that you are satisfied with the information which we have
provided. However, in the event that you wish to complain about the manner
in which your enquiry has been handled, or want to request a review of a
decision to withhold information, you should write in the first instance
to the Access to Information Manager, Access to Information Team,
Lancashire County Council, PO Box 78, County Hall, Preston PR1 8XJ, or
email [1][Lancashire County Council request email].

 

If, after this stage, you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to refer
the matter to the Information Commissioner, whose contact details are as
follows:

 

The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Telephone:    0303 123 1113

Website:         [2]http://www.ico.gov.uk/

 

If you have any queries regarding our response, or you require any
additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Vicky Austin

 

Access to Information Officer

Information Governance Team

Lancashire County Council

[3]www.lancashire.gov.uk

 

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