Information Commissioner's Office

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

4 May 2016, Central government

The complainant submitted a request to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) for details of the despatches written by Lieutenant Colonel Anton Gash, the defence attaché of the British High Commission in Sri Lanka, to the FCO during the period January 2009 to May 2009. The FCO initially sought to withhold the requested information on the basis of sections 27(1)(a) and (b); 27(2); (international relations); 31(1)(a) to (c) (law enforcement); and 41(1) (information provided in confidence) of FOIA. During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation the FCO provided the complainant with redacted versions of the despatches. The complainant disputed the FCO’s basis of making these redactions. The Commissioner has concluded that the FCO has correctly relied on section 27(1)(a), but can only rely on section 40(2) as basis  to withhold some of the material to which it has been applied and furthermore that section 31 is not engaged.

FOI 27: Not upheld FOI 31: Upheld FOI 40: Partly upheld