Information Commissioner's Office

Cabinet Office

1 August 2016, Central government

The complainant asked the public authority to reveal whether a named company had ever submitted an application to the authority for permission to use the title “Royal”, a protected Royal title granted by the Sovereign acting on the advice of Her Ministers. The public authority decided that it was excluded from its duty to confirm or deny whether it held any information within the scope of the request by virtue of the exclusion contained at section 37(2) FOIA. The Commissioner has concluded that the public authority was entitled to rely on the exclusion contained at section 37(2) FOIA. No steps are required.

FOI 37: Not upheld