Information Commissioner's Office

Department for Transport

24 October 2016, Central government

The complainant made a request for information to the Department for Transport (DfT) for copies of assessment reports produced by the Major Projects Authority on HS2. The DfT handled the request under FOIA and found that the information was exempt under section 35(1)(a) (policy formulation and development). During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation the DfT said that were the Commissioner to find that the request should have been considered under the EIR then it would seek to rely on the exceptions in regulations 12(4)(d) (material still in course of completion), 12(4)(e) (internal communications) and 12(5)(d) (confidentiality of proceedings etc.). The Commissioner has found that the request is for environmental information and the DfT should have considered it under the EIR. The Commissioner has also decided that the regulation 12(4)(d) exception is not engaged; regulation 12(5)(d) is engaged and regulation 12(4)(e) applies to only some of the withheld information. The Commissioner has decided that for some of the information the public interest in maintaining an exception outweighs the public interest in disclosure but for some of the withheld information the public interest favours disclosure. This decision notice is currently under appeal to the Tribunal.

EIR 12(4)(d): Not upheld EIR 12(4)(e): Partly upheld EIR 12(5)(d): Partly upheld