Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant asked the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) for information concerning whether a named person remains in prison, the location of that prison and, in the event that he is no longer in prison, the date of his re-release on licence. NOMS refused to disclose the requested information in reliance of section 40(3) of the Act. The Commissioner finds that NOMS breached section 17(1)(b) of the Act by failing to cite section 40(2)(b) as the appropriate exemption in refusing to supply the requested information. Notwithstanding this breach, however, the Commissioner is satisfied that NOMS was not obliged to supply the requested information in accordance with section 1(1)(b) of the Act by virtue of section 40(2). The Commissioner considers that the requested information is the sensitive personal data of the named person and finds none of the conditions of Schedule 3 of the Data Protection Act 1998 are met.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 17 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 40 - Complaint Not upheld