Trafodiadau ariannol dros £25,000

28 July 2022

Dear         ,

Complaint in respect of ATISN 16363

Thank you for your request which was received by the Welsh Government on 4 July 2022. 

I have considered your complaint in accordance with the procedure outlined in Requesting information from the Welsh Government which is available by post on request or via the internet.

The Welsh Government already publishes this data, we aim for quarterly in arrears but this is impacted by resources. The publication dates quoted refer to the UK Government and we are not obliged to commit to publishing data in line with UK Government deadlines.

If you remain dissatisfied with this response you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: 

Information Commissioner’s Office 
Wycliffe House 
Water Lane 
Wilmslow 
Cheshire 
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Website: www.ico.org.uk

Yours sincerely

Gawain Evans

29 June 2022

Dear

ATISN 16363

Thank you for your request which I received on 28 May 2022. You asked for the following information: 

All transactions over £25,000 from March 2022 to a month in arrears from the date at which you publish in response to this request.

Please provide the data in a machine-readable format (preferably csv). As a minimum, please make sure to include the date, value and recipient of each transaction. Please also provide details on the procurement category of each transaction if you have it.

I can confirm the information requested is withheld under Section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act (2000) – information intended for future publication. I have set out my reasons for withholding the information at Annex 1 to this letter.

If you are dissatisfied with the Welsh Government’s handling of your request, you can ask for an internal review within 40 working days of the date of this response. Requests for an internal review should be addressed to the Welsh Government’s Freedom of Information Officer at:

Information Rights Unit 
Welsh Government
Cathays Park 
Cardiff 
CF10 3NQ 

or e-mail: Freedom.ofinformation@gov.wales

Please remember to quote the ATISN reference number above.   

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: 

Information Commissioner’s Office 
Wycliffe House 
Water Lane 
Wilmslow 
Cheshire 
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Website: www.ico.org.uk     

However, please note that the Commissioner will not normally investigate a complaint until it has been through our own internal review process.

Yours sincerely

Annex 1

Engagement of section 22(1) (Information intended for future publication)

Whilst I can confirm that the Welsh Government holds information of this description, it is considered exempt under section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act. This states (inter alia):

1) Information is exempt information if—

(a) the information is held by the public authority with a view to its publication, by the authority or any other person, at some future date (whether determined or not),

(b) the information was already held with a view to such publication at the time when the request for information was made, and

(c) it is reasonable in all the circumstances that the information should be withheld from disclosure until the date referred to in paragraph (a)

I can confirm that the conditions under (a) and (b) are satisfied. Welsh Government does hold the information being requested. Information will be published in due course.

For (c), the Welsh Government believes that it is reasonable in all the circumstances that the information should be withheld from disclosure until that time. Publishing the requested information now may not reflect the information that will be published on the website; it could be misleading and not present an accurate picture. For that reason, we believe it is reasonable for information to be withheld to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the information that will be published shortly. 

Public Interest Test

Section 22 is also a public interest tested exemption. This means that in order to withhold information under it, it has to be shown that the public interest in withholding the information outweighs that in releasing it. Whilst Welsh Government acknowledges the general public interest in openness and transparency that release would engender, we believe the release of information at this stage would be confusing and may not present complete overall information compared to that which will be published.

The Welsh Government believes that information currently held should be exempt from disclosure on the basis that more accurate and complete information will be published. Welsh Government is currently preparing final information for publication, including carrying out quality and accuracy checks. The information is at present unverified and may present an inaccurate picture.

Public interest arguments in favour of disclosure

• The general presumption of openness that the FOIA aspires to.

Public interest arguments in favour of withholding

• The intended publication date is in the not too distant future;
• Information released through the Freedom of Information Act is released to the world and not just the requester. The information in question is incomplete and are still undergoing quality assurance. The final, published version of the data may be different, making it possible that confusion could arise when comparing the two versions and potentially leading to incorrect conclusions being drawn;
• Disclosure of this information before the publication date may compromise trust in the accuracy of official information.

Balance of public interest test

On the basis of the above, we conclude that on balance the public interest arguments are in favour of withholding the data at this time. The public interest in this data will be met with the publication in due course.