Summary: The complainant asked the Department for Business Innovation & Skills (the -public authority-) to provide information relating to a statement he heard about universities working to prevent Islamic extremism. The public authority refused to disclose this using the exemptions under sections 24(1) (national security), 31(1) (law enforcement), 35(1) (formulation or development of government policy) and 38(1) (health and safety) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the -Act-). The Commissioner-s decision is that the exemption at section 24(1) is engaged and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs that in disclosure. Therefore he has not considered the applicability of the other exemptions. The complaint is not upheld. The public authority-s handling of the request also resulted in breaches of procedural requirements of the Act as identified in this Notice.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 10 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 17 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 24 - Complaint Not upheld