The complainant requested documents held by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) which are authored or owned by a named individual and contain the word Iraq. The FCO released five documents in redacted form and withheld one in full, citing the exemptions in sections 27 (international relations), 40 (personal information) and 43 (commercial interests). Having investigated, the Commissioner has decided that the information withheld under section 43 was not within the scope of the request. He also found that the information to which sections 27 and 40 was applied was correctly withheld. However, he identified a series of procedural shortcomings on the part of the public authority relating to delay and failure adequately to specify exemptions. He requires no steps to be taken.
Section of Act/EIR and Finding: FOI 10 – Complaint Upheld, FOI 17 – Complaint Upheld, FOI 27 – Complaint Not upheld, FOI 40 – Complaint Not upheld
Citations:
[2011] UKICO FS50314794
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Information
Updated: 11 June 2022; Ref: scu.530329