ONS board minutes

You asked

Please publish as many of the Board minutes (starting with the most recent) that you can within the cost limit allowed.

We said

Some of the information within this document has been withheld under s.43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act as it relates to contractual information between ONS and contractors who undertake work of behalf of ONS. s.43(2) specifies that information is exempt if its disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of any person. The disclosure of the information would likely prejudice the commercial interests of ONS and the contractor/s in question as it would allow competitors to know specific details of these contractual relationships.

In coming to this decision ONS has considered the public interest in disclosure of the information. Whilst we recognise that there is always an interest in public transparency and the allocation of public funds, we believe that this is outweighed in this instance by the impact that disclosure would have on the future contractual negotiations of both parties and the upholding of the healthy bidding process for the tendering of work.