FOI - Diwali on the Square 2023 [Sep 2024]

Your request 

I am writing to request information under the provisions of the Freedom of Information
Act regarding the Diwali on The Square event that took place in 2023.

Specifically, I would like to request details regarding the fee paid by the Sponsor -
Remitly for being a Partner at the Diwali on The Square event in 2023, as well as a
breakdown of what was included in their sponsorship package. Furthermore, I also
would like to understand what was the selection process of the Sponsor and what other
companies have shown interest in.

Additionally, if there were any contracts, agreements, or documents related to the
arrangement of the event, including any correspondence regarding the fee and package
details, I would appreciate receiving copies of these materials as well.

Our response

Please find attached:

• Countersigned agreement
• Diwali Sponsorship package 2023
• Extracts of correspondence held with Remitly and the organisation acting on their behalf (Here and Now 365) which refers to the fee, sponsorship package, and arrangement of the event. Please note that any content referring to third party organisations and not within the scope of your request has been removed.

Please note that some of the content is exempt from disclosure under the exemption for
Commercial Interests at section 43(2) of the FOIA. Section 43(2) provides that information can be withheld from release if its release would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person. A commercial interest relates to a person’s ability to participate competitively in a commercial activity and in this instance, the GLA is withholding the sponsorship costs because it would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of the GLA and Remitly/ Here and Now 365 in future negotiations on brokering sponsorship deals for similar events and undermining competitiveness.

The GLA is satisfied that in this instance disclosure of this information would be likely to,
prejudice or harm the commercial interests of the GLA and Remitly. Section 43(2) constitutes a qualified exemption from our duty to disclose information under the FOIA and consideration has to be given as to whether the public interest favouring disclosure of the information covered by this exemption outweighs the public interest considerations favouring maintaining the exemption and withholding the information.

In this instance the GLA recognises the legitimate public interest in the transparency regarding the securement of its sponsorship partner for Diwali on the Square. In balancing the public interest in disclosure, we consider the greater good or benefit to the community if the information is released or not. The ‘right to know’ must be balanced against the need to enable effective government and serve the best interests of the public.

Although in many cases disclosure promotes competition, there is undoubtedly a public interest in allowing public authorities to withhold information which, if disclosed, would negatively affect their ability to negotiate or to compete in a commercial environment. In this case, it is felt that the public interest would not be met by revealing information which would be likely to be detrimental to the way in which sponsorship deals are secured in relation to the events it runs and in turn how much savings can be made to the public purse when delivering events.

Finally, the names of junior / non-public facing GLA staff and third parties are exempt from
disclosure under s.40 (Personal information) of the FoI. This information could potentially
identify specific employees and as such constitutes as personal data which is defined by Article 4(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to mean any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual. It is considered that disclosure of this information would contravene the first data protection principle under Article 5(1) of GDPR which states that Personal data must be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.