The independent FOI appeals panel recently upheld an appeal made by a member of the public, and in a decision notice recommended that the legal costs involved in defending several police officers should be revealed due to it being in the public interest.
An FOI request in August last year sought to draw out the exact amount paid to private legal firms.
It falls out of an ongoing story involving a series of claims against police officers that wracked up more than £250,000 in legal expenses.
The Committee of Home Affairs argued that it didn’t need to publish the requested information due to an exemption, and it did “not consider there to be any point of public interest that may outweigh application of that exemption”.
This answer was central to an appeal, with an argument made that even if an exemption was correctly applied public interest in the costs would override the exemption. An independent panel was brought in to decide if the Committee answered appropriately.
The independent panel found that an exemption had been correctly applied, however public interest overrides it.
“The Panel do not accept that the matter is case specific and purely of private interest. The Panel consider that there is a wider public interest in disclosure,” it said.
Pictured: Deputy Rob Prow.
The President of Home Affairs, Deputy Rob Prow, said the Committee is “very dissapointed in the decision”.
“[The decision] seems rather nonsensical given the appeals panel acknowledged we’d applied an exemption correctly.
“We’re currently taking advice and considering our options, noting also that the appeal panel’s ruling isn’t binding.”
