Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant asked the Home Office (the -�public authority-�) to provide information relating to a person who he believed had fraudulently obtained access to the UK. The public authority withheld the information using the exemption in section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act (the -�Act-�). The subject matter of the case prompted the Commissioner to consider whether the public authority should instead have given a -�neither confirm nor deny-� response. The Commissioner finds that confirmation or denial would be likely to disclose personal data and that the disclosure of this personal data would be in breach of the first data protection principle. The exemption provided by section 40(5)(b)(i) should therefore have been applied. The public authority-�s handling of the request also resulted in breaches of certain procedural requirements of the Act as identified in this Notice. The public authority is not required to take any steps. Information Tribunal appeal EA/2011/0149 struck out.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 10 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 17 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 40 - Complaint Upheld