Information Commissioner's Office

Department for Education

27 October 2015, Central government

On 9 December 2013 the Commissioner served a decision notice that found the Department for Education (DfE) had correctly withheld copies of the drafts of the national curriculum for history under the ‘information relation to the development or formulation of government policy’ (section 35(1)(a)) exemption in FOIA. Referencing the passage of time that had elapsed since that decision, the complainant in this case made a request for the same information and for any other documents from around the same time that would shed light on the public policy process. The DfE decided that section 35(1)(a) continued to apply but also considered that the information would engage the ‘prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs’ (sections 36(2)(b) and (c)) exemptions in FOIA. With respect to each of the exemptions applied, the DfE exercised the public interest test and concluded that the public interest favoured withholding the information. The Commissioner considers that section 35(1)(a) of FOIA is engaged and that on balance the public interest favours maintaining the exemption. He does not therefore require any steps to be taken as a result of this notice.

FOI 35: Not upheld