Unsuccessful job applicant wins right to see all applications
In ICO Decision Notice re Leicester City Council, a complainant had unsuccessfully applied for internal vacancies. He requested information about the recruitment process, including copies of the other applicants’ application forms, suitably redacted as necessary. The Council refused the request on the grounds that the exemption under S.40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 applied, as: (i) the information requested was the ‘personal data’ of the other job applicants, as defined by the Data Protection Act 1998, (DPA 1998); and (ii) to release that information to the complainant, even in redacted form, would breach the rights of the other job applicants under the First Data Protection Principle of the DPA 1998.
The Information Commissioner (IC) ruled that while the Council was correct to identify S.40(2) as being relevant to the release of the application forms as a whole, the exemption cannot be relied upon to withhold the information in its entirety, and the Council must take steps to provide the complainant with more information about the other applications. In addition, anonymised, general application form information could not be withheld under the S.40(2) exemption, as this would lead to a breach of S.1(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act.
Given the circumstances, the IC ordered the Council must: (i) provide the complainant with a general summary of the experience and qualifications of each applicant, or supply the complainant with copies of the application forms, removing all information which would enable identification of the applicants; and (ii) indicate which of the applications were successful.
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