Information Commissioner's Office

Cabinet Office

19 November 2007, Central government

The complainant asked the public authority for minutes of a meeting between the Prime Minister and Wal-Mart representative(s) around February/March 1999. The public authority claimed the information was exempt from disclosure, alternating between sections 36 and 35. Following the Commissioner’s intervention the public authority sent the complainant what it claimed was a summary of the points discussed at the meeting. The complainant complained that this did not satisfy his request. The Commissioner agreed that the summary was not comprehensive and concluded that neither the section 35 or 36 exemptions were engaged. He decided that the public authority’s misleading summary breached section 1(1)(b); in failing to provide details of its own internal review procedures and the Information Commissioner's Office it had breached its obligations under section 17(7) of the Act; in delaying issuing its refusal notice and internal review decision it had breached section 17(1) of the Act; in failing to provide an adequate assessment of the public interest test it had again breached section 17(1); and it had breached section 36 by inappropriately withholding the requested information as being exempt under that section. The Commissioner required the public authority to provide the complainant with a full copy of the requested information.

FOI 1: Upheld