Please provide a copy of Devon County Council’s HSA01 policy prior to September 2025
Devon County Council considers the requested information to be exempt from disclosure under Section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Commercial Interests).
Devon County Council can confirm the information is held; however, disclosure would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of the Council.
This is because the Council operates a commercial service to many schools to purchase human resources policies. Disclosure of the policies into the public domain would mean likelihood of harm to this intellectual property of the Council. The Council may see a reduction in requests for this paid for services if the policies are already freely available in the public domain. This could result in a loss of income to the Council.
The Council has considered the public interest in releasing this information and recognises there is a public interest in openness and transparency regarding how the Council operates.
However, there is a stronger public interest in ensuring the Council is able to retain the confidentiality of the intellectual property that is offered as a paid for service and are able to continue to charge schools for this service as required, protecting the commercial income of the Council.
Therefore, the balance of public interest weighs in favour of withholding this information from disclosure.