The complainant submitted a request to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) seeking information about the monitoring of the health and welfare of crew on nuclear submarines. The MOD confirmed that it held information falling within the scope of the request but explained that it considered this information to be exempt from disclosure on the basis of section 26 (defence) of FOIA. After some delay, the MOD provided the complainant with information falling within the scope of her request albeit that it redacted some information on the basis of section 40(2) (personal data) of FOIA. At the internal review stage the MOD clarified the nature of the information it held falling within the scope of the request and explained that some of the requested information should have been considered under the EIR and furthermore some of this information was exempt from disclosure on the basis of regulation 12(5)(a) (defence and national security) of the EIR and that the public interest favoured maintaining this exception. The complainant has argued that the information provided to her by the MOD does not fulfil her request. The Commissioner has concluded that the information provided by the MOD to the complainant does fulfil her request and that on the balance of probabilities the MOD does not hold any further information falling within the scope of the request. The Commissioner has also concluded that the MOD is entitled to withhold some of the information in scope on the basis of regulation 12(5)(a) of the EIR and some of the information on the basis of section 40(2) of FOIA. However, she has also concluded that the MOD breached regulation 7(1) of the EIR by failing to provide her with a substantive response to her request within 40 working days.
EIR 12(5)(a): Complaint not upheld FOI 40: Complaint not upheld EIR 5: Complaint not upheld
[2020] UKICO FS50839314
Bailii
England and Wales
Updated: 23 June 2021; Ref: scu.653507 br>