Information Commissioner's Office

Home Office

6 April 2017, Central government

The complainant has requested statistical information regarding pregnancies at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre from the Home Office. By the date of this notice, the Home Office has yet to provide a substantive response to this request. The Commissioner’s decision is that although it has complied with section 17(1) in stating which exemption is to be relied upon, by failing to complete its public interest test considerations within a reasonable time period the Home Office has breached section 17(3) of the FOIA. The Commissioner has also found breaches of sections 1 and 10 of the FOIA. The Home Office is required to issue a substantive response to the complainant’s request, either disclosing the requested information or issuing a valid refusal notice as set out in section 17 of the FOIA.

FOI 1: Upheld FOI 10: Upheld FOI 17: Upheld