FOI - LS Events [Apr 2025]

Your request 

1. Could I request copies of all correspondence between the Mayor’s Office and representatives of LS Events regarding the donation of tickets to the Taylor Swift concert at Wembley Stadium on 15 August 2024, please?
2. Could I request copies of all correspondence between representatives of LS Events and representatives of the GLA regarding any commercial contracts for GLA events, between 1 May 2024 and present day?

Our response

1. The GLA does not hold information in relation to this part of your request.
2. Please find attached the information we hold within the scope of your request.

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 the information because it would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of LS Events in future negotiations 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 LS Events.

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 award of contracts. 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 contracts 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