ICO Decision Notice: UWE must disclose construction expenditure

ICO Decision Notices

Filed January 30th, 2026

Detected February 11th, 2026

Summary

The UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) issued a decision notice against the University of the West of England (UWE). UWE is required to disclose construction expenditure information within 30 days, as the ICO found their refusal to be unlawful under the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR).

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What changed

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has ruled that the University of the West of England (UWE) must disclose specific construction expenditure information. UWE had initially refused the request, citing commercial interests under FOIA and later regulation 12(5)(e) of the EIR. The ICO found that regulation 12(5)(e) was not applicable and that UWE's handling of the request breached regulation 14 of the EIR.

UWE is mandated to disclose the withheld information within 30 calendar days of the decision notice date. Failure to comply could result in the ICO certifying the non-compliance to the High Court, potentially leading to contempt of court proceedings.

What to do next

Disclose construction expenditure information as specified in paragraph 24 of the decision notice within 30 days.

Penalties

Failure to comply may result in written certification to the High Court and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.

Source document (simplified)

University of the West of England

Date 30 January 2026
Sector Education
Decision(s) EIR 12(5)(e): Upheld, EIR 14: Upheld The complainant has requested information about expenditure on specific construction work and on student accommodation from the University of the West of England (UWE). UWE initially applied section 43 (commercial information) of FOIA to refuse the request. During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation, UWE reconsidered its response and applied regulation 12(5)(e) of the EIR (commercial or industrial information) to withhold figures in scope of the request. The Commissioner’s decision is that regulation 12(5)(e) is not engaged and therefore the information withheld under this exception must be disclosed. Furthermore, the Commissioner has found that UWE’s handling of the request breached regulation 14 of the EIR. The Commissioner requires UWE to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: Disclose to the complainant the withheld information, described in paragraph 24. UWE must take these steps within 30 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.