You asked
By advertising expenditure, I do not mean the amount spent on producing promotional material, but rather the amounts paid to third party media outlets (e.g. ITV, Channel 4, Bauer Media Group, Facebook) in order to advertise the census. If you require further clarification of what I mean by this, please let me know. For each of the below subcategories, I request the budget for and the expenditure on advertising, up until the 21st March 2021.
We said
Thank you for your request.
This information is considered exempt under Section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000, as disclosure would prejudice the commercial interests of ONS and the supplier used for these advertising services.
The use of this exemption is subject to the public interest test.
Whilst we recognise arguments in favour of transparency and accountability regarding information pertaining to government public spending, we also value the public interest in our own capability to negotiate and to compete in a commercial environment.
Disclosure of the requested information would jeopardise our ability to negotiate future contracts and procurements at an advantageous price for us, which would be in the public interest as this will help to preserve public funds.
Additionally, it is also in the public interest for public authorities to be able to maintain the trust and confidence of the suppliers with which we work. Disclosure of the cost of these adverts would negatively impact a third party's ability to generate higher levels of income in the future, as their ability to experience open and fair competition for their advertising services would be compromised. This would therefore render this supplier and other companies unwilling to work with us in the future. We would therefore have a reduced pool of suppliers with which we could negotiate. This damage to our reputation therefore directly and negatively impacts our commercial interests.
Therefore, the public interest in withholding this information outweighs the benefit of release.