Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant requested information relating to the advice given by the Attorney General to the Government on the legality of military action in Iraq, which the public authority refused to supply citing the exemptions in sections 35 and 42 of the Act. The Commissioner has investigated this case together with a number of other complaints about requests for similar information, and the investigation resulted in an Enforcement Notice served on the LSLO on 22 May 2006. This ordered the LSLO to produce a Disclosure Statement setting out information within the scope of the request which led to or supported the conclusions made public by the Attorney General in the 17 March 2003 Statement. A Disclosure Statement which met the Commissioner's requirements was annexed to the Enforcement Notice. The Commissioner has decided that in failing to supply the information which led to or supported the Attorney General's conclusions (except that exempt under section 27) the public authority failed to comply with section 1(1) and 10. However, the Disclosure Statement attached to the Enforcement Notice met the Commissioner's requirements for disclosure and therefore he had not ordered the LSLO to take any further remedial steps in this Decision Notice.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 1 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 10 - Complaint Upheld