Information Commissioner's Office

National Offender Management Service

26 June 2008, Central government

The complainant requested information relating to indeterminate sentences. The public authority replied that section 35 (formulation of government policy) was engaged and that it would carry out a public interest determination within a target timeframe. The Commissioner finds that section 17(1)(c) was breached at this point as the public authority failed to inform the complainant why the exemption was engaged. The timeframe was readjusted on three separate occasions before the complainant made a valid compliant to the Commissioner. The Commissioner finds a delay of over six months in carrying out a public interest determination to be a breach of section 17(3). The public authority also failed to cite a valid exemption under the Act because it did not cite the relevant subsection and therefore breached section 17(1)(b) of the Act. The public authority is required to issue a notice explaining which exemption is engaged and why, where it believes the balance of the public interest lies and its reasoning for this. If the public authority concludes that the balance of the public interest favours disclosing the information or no longer considers the exemption to apply, the information should be provided to the complainant.

FOI 17: Upheld