ICO FOI guidance and decisions by subject

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The following lists interesting or contentious FOI topics that the Information Commissioner or the Information Tribunal has either issued Decision Notices or Guidance Notes for.

Salary packages

Salary band information can be disclosed

  • 22 February 2007 - University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust - FS50092819
  • 8 January 2008 - Information Commissioner - FS50163927 - "The ICO disclosed the job titles and salary bands to the complainant but refused to disclose the exact salary details under section 40(2) of the Act (First data protection principles).
  • 13 March 2008 - BBC - FS50131694 - "Whilst the Commissioner accepts that a person’s salary details are their personal data, he does not accept that disclosure of an anonymised list of the salary bands of the staff sent to cover the World Cup, without reference to their names or job roles would be unfair"

Actual salary information cannot be disclosed

  • 25 March 2008 - British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) FS50084357
  • 27 February 2008 - BBC - FS50072198
  • 26 June 2008 - De Montfort University - FS50142539 - "The Commissioner concluded that the disclosure of the staff members’ exact salary details would be unfair and would lead to a greater infringement of their legitimate right to privacy that is not outweighed by the legitimate interest of the public."

Anonymised salary data can be sometimes disclosed

  • If anonymised information can be provided for a large group of people, and that won't easily allow identification of individuals, then this doesn't count as personal data - see What is personal data flowchart and FS50092819 above.

Other useful references: The Audit Commission Act 1998 - Section 15 of the Act enables electors and taxpayers of a particular borough or police authority area to inspect and make their own copies of council and police authority accounts. The main restriction applies to details of payments to employees and former employees, such as wages and pensions.