FOI release

Information regarding invoices at the GCA

Published 5 September 2023

7th Floor, The Cabot
25 Cabot Square
London E14 4QZ
T: +44 (0) 207 215 6537
E: Enquiries@GroceriesCode.gov.uk
www.gov.uk/gca

Sent by email 21 August 2023

Dear

Freedom of Information Act: Request for information on Groceries Code Adjudicator activities

Thank you for your email dated 24 July 2023 regarding invoices at the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA). In your email you asked for the following information:

Please may you provide me, in Microsoft Excel or an equivalent electronic format, with a list of invoices that were not paid within 30 days for the last 6 financial years (2017/18 to 2022/23 inclusive) which would feed into the Regulation 113 notice you are required to publish each year as part of your obligations under The Public Contracts Regulations 2015, with the following information for each invoice (where available):

• The name of the Supplier
• Supplier email address
• Supplier company registration number
• Supplier postal address
• Supplier telephone number
• Supplier website
• The date of the invoice
• The invoice reference
• The gross value of the invoice
• The date the invoice should have been paid by
• The actual payment date of the invoice
• The total amount of interest liability due to late payment of the invoice
• The total amount of interest paid to the supplier due to late payment of the invoice

Duty to confirm or deny whether the GCA holds the information

Under section 1(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the FOIA Act”), anyone making a request for information to the GCA, as a public authority, is entitled to be informed in writing whether it holds that information, and if so, to be supplied with it.

I can confirm that the GCA does hold the requested information.

With reference to the information you have requested, we are exempt from disclosing this information under Section 43(2) of the FOIA act.

Section 43(2) exempts information from release if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding it). The information you have requested includes commercially sensitive information received from our suppliers. Releasing the information requested would be likely to prejudice current or future commercial interests and the ability to negotiate effectively for both the GCA and its suppliers. Information disclosed under the FOIA is considered to be public information, and while there is a presumption towards disclosure, consideration needs to be given as to who could access to this information beyond the requestor and the purposes for which they could use the information.

The use of section 43(2) is subject to a public interest test. We recognise that there is a general public interest in the disclosure of information, as greater transparency makes government and decision making more open and accountable. Against this there is a public interest in ensuring that the commercial interests of external companies and/or the GCA are not damaged or undermined by disclosure of information which is not common knowledge, and which could adversely impact on future business.

It is important that companies are able to share commercially sensitive information with government in the confidence that that information will not then enter the public domain and damage their wider commercial interests and opportunities. Disclosure of the requested information in this case would be contrary to legitimate expectations of confidentiality and would be likely to damage the commercial interests of the companies.

The commercial sensitivities mean that on this occasion we consider that the public interest would not be served by its release. The GCA’s decision is therefore to withhold the information.

Appeals Procedure

If you wish to complain about the way in which your request for information has been handled, you may seek an internal review by writing, setting out the reasons you feel your request has not been dealt with effectively, to:

The FOI Review Co-ordinator
Groceries Code Adjudicator
7th Floor
25 Cabot Square
London
E14 4QZ

Alternatively you can email: enquiries@groceriescode.gov.uk

We will aim to deal with your Internal Review request within 20 working days of receipt or, if that is not possible, advise you of a date when we expect to complete the review.  

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the Internal Review you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner’s Office. The contact address is:

Information Commissioner's Office
FOI/EIR Complaints Resolution
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely,