Ministry of Justice
- Date 3 August 2010
- Sector Central government
- Decision(s) FOI 10: Upheld
The complainant requested information from the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) about the issue of ‘third party capture’ by liability insurers. The authority provided some information in response to the request. However, it refused to provide a copy of the legal advice passed to the MOJ by the Financial Services Authority further to an Exemption Order under the Compensation Act 2006 that the MOJ was making at the time. In withholding the information, the MOJ claimed that section 42 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 applied. The Commissioner considers that the MOJ was correct to cite section 42(1) and that the public interest favours maintaining the exemption. Nevertheless, the Commissioner has found that the MOJ breached section 10(1) in its handling of the request.