Information Commissioner's Office

Cabinet Office

23 June 2008, Central government

The complainant wrote to the Cabinet Office to request records of exchanges between Tony Blair and Rupert Murdoch. The Cabinet Office responded to the request by stating that the information could not be disclosed since the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit of £600. During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation the Cabinet Office altered its position to say that it no longer believed that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit. Instead, it subsequently disclosed some of the information to the complainant but withheld the remainder under section 35 (Formulation of Government Policy), section 40 (Personal Information), section 41 (Information Provided in Confidence) and section 43 (Commercial Interests). Having analysed the withheld information, the Commissioner has decided that all the remaining information should be disclosed to the complainant apart from two sentences within a specified document which he accepts is exempt under section 41. He has also decided that the Cabinet Office breached several procedural provisions of the Act in its handling of the request. Information Tribunal appeal (EA/2008/0060) has been withdrawn.

FOI 41: Not upheld