Tra47 Development of Cardiff Airport

18 August 2011

Dear 

Request for Information – Cardiff Airport

I wrote to you on 22 July following your request for information. In your request you asked for:

 details of meetings (together with dates) and correspondence of meetings between Welsh Government Ministers and officials and managers at Cardiff Airport to discuss any plans to arrest the decline of the airport, develop it, increase the range  of services/air routes and number of passengers, both for business and leisure travel during 2011.
 details of any government funding provided to the airport for route development.

You further clarified on 29 July that in relation to the first bullet point you specifically meant:

 any meetings held with managers from the airport (both Ministerial and official meetings).

I am enclosing some of the information which you requested but have decided that some information contained in the correspondence with the Airport is exempt from disclosure. Exempt information has been blanked out if it was on the same page as information I have provided.

Some of the information requested contains reference to policy and financial matters that are still in development and disclosing this information possibly prejudices the Welsh Government’s position.  In my view exemptions under s29(1)(b) and s35 exemption provided by the FOI Act 2000 apply.  I have also applied the public interest and substantial harm tests test and have concluded that non-disclosure of the information identified above is justified at this point in time.  A full description of our analysis of the application of the exemptions is set out in Annex 1.

I have not found any information that fits this description in your second bullet point.

Any information released under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or Environmental Information Regulations 2004 will be listed in the Assembly Government’s Disclosure Log.

If you believe that I have not followed the relevant laws, or you are unhappy with this response, you may request an internal review by writing to:

James Price, Director General, Department for Business, Enterprise, Technology and Science, Welsh Government, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ

When dealing with any concerns, we will follow the principles set out in the Assembly Government’s Code of Practice on Complaints which is available on the Internet at www.wales.gov.uk or by post.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner.  Normally, however, you should pursue the matter through our internal procedure before you complain to the Information Commissioner. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 01625 545 745
Fax: 01625 524 510
Email: casework@ico.gsi.gov.uk

Also, if you think that there has been maladministration in dealing with your request then you may make a complaint to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales who can be contacted at:

Public Services Ombudsman for Wales
Ffordd yr Hen Gae
Pencoed
Bridgend
CF35 5LJ

Yours Sincerely

Jason Thomas
Department for Business Enterprise, Technology and Science
Crown Buildings
Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NQ

Annex 1

Request for Information – reference 5316

List of information provided:

- S29(1)(b) – The Economy
- S35 – Formulation of government policy

We believe that section 29(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is engaged as the information requested relates to ongoing work by the Welsh Government to determine policy around funding.  Disclosure of this some of the information contained in the e-mails would be likely to prejudice the financial interests of the Welsh Government by disclosing details of discussions regarding a financial grant.

In assessing the exemption under Section 29(1)(b) we have considered both the public interest and substantial harm tests.  There is substantial harm in the release of information prior to any decisions being made as this would be likely to harm our ability to efficiently and effectively conclude the remaining work.  

We recognise there is a public interest in knowing what public money is being spent on and any decision on funding would be published in a decision report at the appropriate time.  Whilst there may be a genuine public interest in having access to the full information now there is also public interest in allowing all the issues to be fully resolved. For this reason we are redacting part of the information from the e-mails. Our view is that the substantial harm caused by the disclosure at this stage outweighs the public interest in full disclosure now.

As part of the government’s policy-making process it is also necessary for Ministers and officials to engage in discussions in a frank and unrestricted way.  Such discussions will, from time to time, cover matters which are potentially sensitive.  To enable this to happen, Ministers need to have confidence that views and opinions expressed will, where appropriate, remain within Government.  The Information Commissioner has accepted that during policy formulation Ministers and officials should have space to discuss and deliberate free from the public gaze. If such deliberations were to be conducted in public the result would be a less rigorous and thorough consideration of the issues upon which policy decisions are based.  The policy-making process would therefore suffer substantial harm.

It is in the public interest that Government should be able to operate in a way that enables sound decisions to be made.  This in turn relies on unfettered discussion and debate within Government.  It is therefore not in the public interest to risk limiting such discussion through the release of all information on them into the public domain.

It could be suggested that there are arguments in favour of releasing such information.  It may be proposed that there could be a general public interest in openness.  Once a policy has been decided the disclosure of all information relating to that policy would allow individuals to fully understand the reasons behind it.  The Welsh Government acknowledges this view through its proactive publication of significant amounts of Government information (eg Cabinet minutes), and of additional information, when requested.  However, it is right that some information remains exempt and we consider that on balance the public interest is best served by exempting information until the policy is finalised.