FOI release

FOI22/23-043 - Application to Stonewalls Workplace Equality Index

Published 18 January 2023

Our ref: FOI22/23- 043

Re: Freedom of Information Act 2000

Thank you for your email of 29 July in which you requested from the Insolvency Service:

1) Confirm whether your organisation applied to be part of the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index in A) 2018 (for 2019), B) 2019 (for 2020) or C) 2021 (for 2022) (NB the index was suspended in 2020/21 because of Covid)

2) Give details of the total amount of money you paid to Stonewall in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 whether or not as payment for goods or services.

3) State whether you intend to continue your membership of any Stonewall scheme in the future, and if so which.

If the answer to any part of 1 is yes please supply:

4) Any application you made in 2018/19 or 2019/20 or 2021/22 to be included on Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index, including any attachments or appendices to those applications. Please redact personal details if necessary.

5) Any feedback you received in 2018/19 or 2019/20 or 2021/22 from Stonewall in relation to either application or programme. This must include the priorities or objectives written by your organisation’s representative at the end of the feedback form (under the heading ‘Priorities for the year ahead’ in 2019; ‘Your priorities’ in 2020).

Your request has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

I can confirm the agency holds the information that you have requested and I have provided answers to your questions below:

Q1 – Yes the Insolvency Service applied to be part of the Stonewall Workplace Equality index in 2019 (for 2020) and 2021 (for 2022).

Q2 – this information is exempt under S21 of the FOIA because it is already published as part of our FOI publication scheme. This information can be found here

Q3 – the agency does not intend to continue our Stonewall Membership at this time.

Q4 – I can confirm the Insolvency Service holds this information; however, it is exempt from disclosure pursuant to section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Your request is therefore refused. More information about this exemption can be found below under the heading “commercial interests”

Q5 – The feedback for 2020 is exempt from S21 of the FOIA because it is already available online. This feedback can be found here under the reference FOI20/21-189. Feedback for 2021 was not received because the agency left the scheme before feedback was received; therefore, we do not hold this information.

Section 43(2) – Commercial Interests

Section 43(2) of the Act states that:

‘Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding it).’

In this case disclosure is likely to prejudice the commercial interests of Stonewall, with whom the Insolvency Services (the agency) engaged with.

The responses provided in the Workplace Equality Index application are exempt from disclosure because they could be seen to allude to the questions, deemed commercially sensitive, provided by Stonewall in the submission template.

• Harm (prejudice)

Disclosure of the information would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests identified above. The potential harm applicable to Stonewall is that they could lose revenue generated from government agencies who apply to the WEI. Public bodies may be less willing to engage in Stonewall’s services if details of their submissions and detailed feedback was made public without consideration.

Stonewall have direct competitors who may gain a competitive advantage if details of their submission template were made public. As a third-party organisation, Stonewall rely on revenue generated by these programmes to further their charitable work, which could be impacted by the release of their application processes to these competitors.

• Public interest test

The factors I have considered in undertaking the public interest test are as below:

Public interest considerations favouring disclosure

• There is a public interest in understanding the Civil Services progress concerning LGBTQ+ inclusivity

Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information

• it would have a detrimental impact on the commercial revenue of Stonewall, as other public bodies would be less willing to engage in its services if detailed submission and feedback information were shown to be subject to disclosure
• It would weaken the competitive position of the Civil Service or Stonewall in their market by disclosing sensitive information which would be likely to be used by competitors to gain a competitive advantage

If you are not satisfied with the response we have provided you and would like us to reconsider our decision by way of an internal review (IR), please contact our Information Rights Team at foi@insolvency.gov.uk or by post at:

Information Rights Team

The Insolvency Service

3rd Floor

Cannon House

18 Priory Queensway

Birmingham

B4 6FD

United Kingdom

You also have the right to contact the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) if you wish for them to investigate any complaint you may have regarding our handling of your request. However, please note that the ICO is likely to expect an IR to have been completed in the first instance.

Kind regards

Information Rights Team

The Insolvency Service