Information Commissioner's Office

Cabinet Office

5 August 2008, Central government

The complainant wrote to the Cabinet Office to request a copy of the Cabinet Office papers prepared for a meeting of the Asylum and Migration Working Group meeting in October 2005 which took the decision to continue the Accession States Worker Registration Scheme. The Cabinet Office informed the complainant that the requested information is held but that it is exempt from disclosure under section 35(1)(a) and 35(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act (Formulation or development of government policy and Ministerial communications). The Cabinet Office also stated that it had concluded that the balance of the public interest lies in maintaining the exemptions. The Commissioner accepts that the information withheld from the complainant engages the specified exemptions but has concluded that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption is outweighed by the public interest in disclosing the information. The Commissioner therefore requires the Cabinet Office to provide the withheld information to the complainant. Information Tribunal appeal number (EA/2008/0073) has been dismissed.

FOI 1: Upheld