Home | Your Council | Information | Freedom of Information (FoI) | Advice to contractors about Freedom of Information

Advice to contractors about Freedom of Information

Freedom of Information (FoI) applies to all information held by public bodies. It also applies to specifically designated private companies that perform public functions but not to other private companies - see the DCA website under external links.

However, all of the information that we hold about your company is covered by FoI, as is any information that you hold on our behalf.

If I give you information on my products or services, will this be subject to the Freedom of Information Act?

Yes, but that does not mean it will automatically be released if it is requested, as one of the exemptions may apply. We will seek your views before making a decision on disclosure of information that might affect your rights or interests

My company holds information on behalf of you, how am I affected?

If we get a request for information that includes information you hold on our behalf, we will ask you to provide it quickly so that we can comply with FoI.

What if a request for information comes direct to my company?

You have no obligations to respond to such a requests since FoI does not apply to your organisation. If the request relates to information that you hold on behalf of us you should not in any case disclose it without our explicit agreement. To be helpful to the person requesting the information, if it relates to us, you should advise that the request should be submitted to us.

Are there any exemptions that allow you to refuse to supply information?

FoI provides for two types of exemption: Absolute Exemptions and Qualified Exemptions.

• Where information is covered by an Absolute Exemption, we may refuse to release the information and, in some circumstances, can refuse to confirm or deny whether we hold the information.
• Where Qualified Exemptions apply, we have to undertake a public interest test to decide whether it is in the public interest to disclose or withhold it.

Could information I supply to you be protected by having a confidentiality clause in contracts or by providing the information in confidence?

Confidentiality clauses are discouraged under FoI unless there are genuine commercial and/or legal reasons why the information should be treated as confidential. Information provided in confidence is only exempt if its disclosure would give rise to an actionable breach of confidence. This is a narrow legal exemption, which applies in limited circumstances and you should not assume that this exemption will apply just because you think information is confidential.

If you consider that information that you provide to us is confidential, you should identify the information and provide reasons why you consider the information to be confidential under FoI.

What will you do if you receives a request for information that might affect my company?

When considering requests, we will consult you about information that may affect your rights or interests, unless we are already certain that we must or must not disclose it. This consultation will help us to decide if an exemption applies and what the considerations are in applying a public interest test about information disclosure. However, the law makes us alone responsible for making the final decision regarding disclosure.

What happens to tender information after a contract is awarded?

Information that was commercially sensitive during the tendering process may no longer be sensitive once contracts have been signed, therefore we will consult with you to determine its disclosure as in the previous answer.