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Home - 23rd December 2013 – FOI Response: 739.2013-14 – Freedom of information request

23rd December 2013 – FOI Response: 739.2013-14 – Freedom of information request

Request

Please provide me with the successful and unsuccessful tenders for the Branding and Literature Templates tender of November 2012.

Response

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information

To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire.
I can confirm that the following information is held:

  • Initial proposal from Mark Studio
  • Initial proposal from Emamooden Design Ltd

Decision

I have decided that the information you are requesting is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (“the Act”) pursuant to Section 43.

Commercial Interests – Section 43(2)

Information is exempt information if its disclosure under the Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding that information).

Section 43 is a qualified and class-based exemption, and I am therefore required to conduct a public interest test when applying this exemption.

Public Interest Test

Factors Favouring Disclosure

  • The public would be able to view the full details of the branding exercise which was undertaken at public expense.
  • The Commissioner could exceed her statutory disclosure obligations and publish all of the material.
    Factors Favouring Non Disclosure
  • In respect of the proposal documents, disclosure to the world would enable competitors to view their methodology and creative ideas and could affect their ability to fairly compete in the future.
  • The documents contain detailed breakdowns of costs of various elements of the work proposed, which could again affect both companies’ ability to fairly compete in the future.
  • Both organisations have been consulted and have asserted that the information is commercially sensitive and would prejudice their companies if disclosed.
  • The finalised branding package, together with a range of other documentation, is readily available for the public to view throughout the Commissioner’s website and literature, and so the disclosure of proposals would add little to the public knowledge of the exercise, but would have a negative impact on Mark Studios and Emamooden Designs.

Balancing Test

After weighing up the competing interests I have determined that the disclosure of the above information would not be in the public interest and would adversely impact the commercial interests of two third party organisations. I consider that the benefit that would result from the information being disclosed does not outweigh the benefit of not disclosing the information.

Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) requires North Yorkshire Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which: (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

Pursuant to Section 17(1) of the Act this letter acts as a Refusal Notice in relation to the exempted parts of your request.