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Information Commissioner's Office
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Information Commissioner's Office >> Cabinet Office (Central government) [2022] UKICO 66807 (5 December 2022)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKICO/2022/66807.html
Cite as: [2022] UKICO 66807
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Cabinet Office
The complainant has requested information concerning the business case for the creation of the Government Commercial Organisation (GCO). The Cabinet Office originally withheld all the requested information under section 36(2)(b)(i) and (ii)(prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs) of the FOIA, with section 40(2) (third party personal data) also being applied to a small amount of the information. During the Commissioner’s investigation the Cabinet Office additionally applied sections 35(1)(a)(formulation or development of government policy), 42(1)(legal professional privilege) and 43(2)(prejudice to commercial interests) to different parts of Annexes B of the withheld information. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Cabinet Office correctly applied sections 35(1)(a), 42(1) and 43(2) to the relevant information and that the balance of the public interest favours maintaining each respective exemption. The Commissioner finds that the Cabinet Office failed to correctly apply section 36(2)(b)(ii) to the relevant information but that the same information is exempt under section 36(2)(b)(i). The Commissioner considers that the balance of the public interest favours maintaining section 36(2)(b)(i) to most of the relevant information with the exceptions of paragraphs 12 and 13 of the main briefing paper, where the Commissioner finds that the public interest balance favours disclosure of this information. The Commissioner has also found that the Cabinet Office breached section 10(1) of the FOIA in that they failed to provide a valid response to the request within the statutory time frame of 20 working days. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. Disclose paragraphs 12 and 13 of the main briefing paper to the complainant. The Cabinet Office must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the FOIA and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.FOI 35(1)(a): Complaint not upheld FOI 36(2)(b)(i): Complaint partly upheld FOI 43(2): Complaint not upheld FOI 42(1): Complaint not upheld FOI 10(1): Complaint upheld
Decision notice: 66807