3 May 2007, Central government
The complainant requested information relating to a draft of the Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction dossier from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (the “FCO”). The FCO refused the request citing the exemption under section 36(2)(b)(ii) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the “Act”) in that disclosure of the information would prejudice the ability of officials to freely and frankly exchange views for the purposes of deliberation. After reviewing the information and considering the relevant arguments, the Commissioner decided the FCO were wrong to rely on the exemption under section 36 of the Act and also that it failed to provide a response to the request within the 20 working days permitted by the Act. In view of this, the Commissioner requires the FCO to disclose the requested information to the complainant. An appeal was made to the Information Tribunal, but the appeal was dismissed.
FOI 1: Upheld