Information Commissioner's Office

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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Information Commissioner's Office >> Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (Central government) [2021] UKICO ic-45127 (22 December 2021)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKICO/2021/ic-45127.html
Cite as: [2021] UKICO ic-45127

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Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

The complainant submitted a request to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) (now the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, FCDO) seeking copies of three files concerning Sri Lanka in the 1980s. The FCO disclosed two of these files in full. It also provided the majority of the information from the third file but sought to withhold the remaining information on the basis section 23(1) (security bodies) or, in the alternative, section 24(1) (national security) and sections 27(1)(a) and 27(2) (international relations) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that parts of the withheld information are exempt from disclosure on the basis of section 23(1) or section 24(1) of FOIA and that the remaining withheld information is exempt from disclosure on the basis of section 27(2). However, he has also concluded that the FCO breached section 17(3) of FOIA by failing to conclude its public interest test considerations and provide the complainant with a substantive response to his request within a reasonable timeframe.

FOI 27: Complaint not upheld FOI 24: Complaint not upheld FOI 23: Complaint not upheld

Decision notice: ic-45127