On 23 October 2009, the complainant requested copies of written communications exchanged between the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the public authority’s press office relating to media coverage of the DPP’s annual lecture of 21 October 2009. The public authority refused to provide this information arguing that it was exempt under section 36(2) of the Act (Effective conduct of public affairs) and that the public interest favoured maintaining this exemption. It upheld this position on internal review. The public authority later made a disclosure of some information to the complainant having concluded that the passage of time altered the balance of public interest in relation to that information. The Commissioner has concluded that the majority of the information that remains withheld is exempt under section 36(2)(b)(i) and (ii) and section 36(2)(c) and that the public interest in maintaining those exemptions outweighs the public interest in disclosure. However, he has found that in relation to a small section of the withheld information, the public interest favours disclosure and he now requires the public authority to disclose it. The Commissioner also identified a number of procedural shortcomings in the way the request was handled.
Section of Act/EIR and Finding: FOI 10 – Complaint Upheld, FOI 36 – Complaint Upheld
Citations:
[2011] UKICO FS50286243
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Information
Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.530134