Information Commissioner's Office

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

24 August 2016, Central government

The complainant submitted a request to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) for correspondence it had exchanged with British American Tobacco concerning allegations of corruption by the company in East Africa. The FCO refused to confirm or deny whether it held any information falling within the scope of the request on the basis of sections 23(5) (security bodies), 27(4) (international relations) and 31(3) (law enforcement). The Commissioner has concluded that the FCO is entitled to rely on section 23(5) to refuse to confirm or deny whether it holds the requested information. Furthermore, the Commissioner has also concluded that disclosure of the FCO’s rationale for relying on the three exemptions would involve the disclosure of information that is itself exempt and thus the FCO is entitled to rely on section 17(4) of FOIA as basis not to explain to the complainant why these exemptions apply.

FOI 17: Not upheld FOI 23: Not upheld