Firm warned of legal action if council released information
A PROPERTY firm promised to take legal action against Wakefield Council if potentially “damaging” details about its business were made public.
Engie maintains the council’s buildings and runs catering in local schools, having signed a deal worth £200m of taxpayers’ money in 2016.
But the contract was later hit by problems in 2018, with the council admitting it had fined Engie £100,000 for failing to deliver on a number of promises. A senior officer publicly acknowledged the company’s service was below an “acceptable” standard.
Now a report has revealed that Engie said it would take legal action against the council, if the authority released certain information about its performance under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. The council refused a 2018 request to release correspondence it had with Engie about the deal over several months.
It claimed the information was “commercially sensitive” and
would harm Engie’s business interests. After an appeal, it later released heavily redacted notes of correspondence between the two parties.
The Information Commissioner, the body which handles complaints about FOI requests, backed the council in not releasing the rest of the information.
It said the public interest in revealing the details to taxpayers was outweighed by several factors, including the prospect of harm to Engie’s business interests.
In her ruling, the Commissioner said the council had told her: “Engie are explicit that should the withheld information be released, they will bring legal action against the council for releasing information which has been agreed on the basis of a commercial and legal settlement.”
In 2018, then-council leader Peter Box told a public meeting the Engie deal had saved £3m for the taxpayer thus far.
And the council’s service director for environment, Glynn Humphries, said this week: “The council and Engie have worked together to resolve a number of contract issues and make our partnership deliver as it should. In getting to this point a number of changes occurred which were legally binding and commercially sensitive and now form part of our contract with Engie.”
Engie said it had no further comment to make.