Information Commissioner's Office

National Archives

17 July 2017, Central government

The complainant has requested from The National Archives (TNA) a closed extract with TNA’s reference PREM/3/139/11B/1, from the open parent file PREM/3/139/11B – Prime Minister’s Office: Operational Correspondence and Papers.  Explosives.  Tube Alloys. TNA has withheld this information under section 24(1) (national security), section 26(1)(a) (defence of the British Islands or any colony) and section 27(1)(relations between the United Kingdom and any other state).  TNA considers the balance of the public interest favours maintaining these exemptions. The Commissioner’s decision is that the requested information engages section 24(1) of the FOIA and that the balance of the public interest favours maintaining this exemption. The Commissioner has decided that TNA breached sections 17(1) and 17(3) of the FOIA because it failed to provide the complainant with adequate refusal notices. The Commissioner does not require TNA to take any further steps to ensure compliance with the legislation.

FOI 17: Upheld FOI 24: Not upheld