ICO forces BBC to reveal details of Capita deal

The Information Commissioner's Office has ordered details of a deal that would potentially reveal whether the BBC had paid incentives as part of a deal with Capita

The ICO has ordered the BBC to reveal details of the licence fee collection contracts it has with outsourcing firm Capita, with emphasis on the incentives offered by the corporation.

This follows a Freedom of Information request submitted in 2008 by an as yet unknown source. The original deal with Capita was struck in February 2002.

At first, the BBC rejected the request, claiming that the release of such information would influence the commercial interests of the corporation and its contractors.

However, the Commissioner refused the rejection, arguing that the information's release is in the public interest.

The ICO has now ordered full disclosure and has given The BBC 35 days to provide the information, unless an appeal is served.

"Incentives are often a natural part of a contract, these can be performance related incentives for example; if Capita complete a project before deadline, they might get rewarded - so it's not that we believe there's anything untoward in the incentives offered, we just feel that this information should be made available because the BBC needs to represent value for money to the license fee payers," an ICO spokesperson told Computing.

"The public interest in revealing this information is greater than the public interest in retaining it."

Steve Wood, ICO's head of policy delivery added: "On this occasion the BBC incorrectly applied an exemption under the belief that it was not in the public interest for the corporation to release details of the incentives they offer to one of their contractors."

"However, it is our view that the corporation must be open to public scrutiny in order to show the many people who regularly watch their programmes, listen to their radio stations and use their web site that they continue to provide value for money."