Information Commissioner's Office

Cabinet Office

8 June 2016, Central government

The complainant has requested information related to the investigation which followed the leak of a Scotland Office memo prior to the general election of 2015. The Cabinet Office refused to provide it citing provisions of section 31 (law enforcement) as its basis for doing so and section 21 (information available to the requester). The complainant challenged its use of section 31 and the Cabinet Office upheld this at internal review. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Cabinet Office is entitled to rely on the provisions of section 31 it has cited as its basis for refusing to provide the information in question. No steps are required.

FOI 31: Not upheld