17 February 2016, Central government
The complainant requested information relating to a named Judge as well as information relating to investigations into the conduct of the judiciary and the work of the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said that it did not hold some of the requested information and that some of it was accessible to the applicant by other means (section 21 FOIA). With respect to the remainder, MoJ refused to confirm or deny whether the information was held, citing section 32(3) (court records), 40(5) (personal information) and 44(2) (prohibitions on disclosure) of FOIA. The Commissioner has investigated MoJ’s application of section 44(2). His decision is that MoJ has correctly applied that exemption on the basis that confirmation or denial was prohibited by section 139 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (CRA). He requires no steps to be taken.
FOI 44: Not upheld