Information Commissioner's Office

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

15 November 2016, Central government

The complainant submitted a request to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) for information about any meetings and correspondence between the British High Commission in Nigeria and representatives of various organisations. The FCO disclosed the information it held which fell within the scope of the request but redacted certain parts of the information on the basis of sections 43(2) (commercial interests) and 40(2) (personal data) of FOIA. The Commissioner is satisfied that the FCO is entitled to rely on these exemptions, with the only exception being the name of particular third party which the Commissioner has concluded is not exempt from disclosure on the basis of section 40(2). The Commissioner requires the public authority to provide the complainant with a further copy of the requested information this time with the name of the third party identified in the confidential annex to this notice unredacted.

FOI 40: Partly upheld FOI 43: Not upheld