Information Commissioner's Office

Ministry of Justice

23 July 2015, Central government

The complainant requested information about oral hearings for prisoners from the Ministry of Justice (the ‘MOJ’) who provided some of the information requested, but withheld the remainder under section 40(2) of the FOIA, the exemption for personal information. The Commissioner’s decision is that, based on the information the MOJ provided to him during his investigation, it has given an incorrect figure to the complainant in response to part one of the request. He also finds that section 40(2) is not engaged in respect of part two of the request. The Commissioner requires the MOJ to issue a fresh response to part one of the request set out in paragraph 5; issue a fresh response to part two of the request set out in paragraph 5, which does not rely on section 40(2). The public authority must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.

FOI 40: Upheld