Information Commissioner's Office

Cabinet Office

31 August 2016, Central government

The complainant has requested a number of files from the Cabinet Office which were subsequently transferred in part to The National Archives (“TNA”). In a much delayed response, the Cabinet Office cited section 22 (intended for future publication), section 27 (international relations) section 23 (security bodies) and section 24 in the alternative (safeguarding national security), and section 40 (unfair disclosure of personal data). It upheld this at internal review although dropped reliance on section 40.The Commissioner’s decision is that the Cabinet Office was not entitled to rely on section 22 in respect of some of the information to which it was applied. It was entitled to rely on section 22 in respect of some of the requested information. Also the Cabinet Office is entitled to rely on the other exemptions it cited at internal review as its basis for refusing to provide the other information within the scope of the request. However, it has also contravened the requirements of section 10 of the FOIA in failing to respond to the request in a timely manner.No steps can be required because the information to which section 22 had been incorrectly applied has already been transferred to TNA.

FOI 22: Partly upheld FOI 23: Not upheld FOI 24: Not upheld FOI 40: Not upheld FOI 10: Upheld FOI 27: Upheld