Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The complainant requested information held by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (‘FCO’) regarding an allegation which appeared in The Observer. The allegation was that the British government had solicited a letter from the US Administration to substantiate its claim that the publication of a summary of Binyam Mohamed’s treatment would lead to a reconsideration of the intelligence sharing relationship between the US and the UK. The FCO refused to provide the information it held citing the exemptions contained at the following sections of the Act: 23(1), 27(1)(a), 27(2), 35(1)(a) and 42(1). The Commissioner has concluded that the majority of the documents falling within the scope of the request are exempt from disclosure on the basis of one of the exemptions cited by the FCO, predominantly on the basis of section 27(1)(a). However, the Commissioner has also concluded that although a small number of documents fall within the scope of the exemption contained at section 35(1)(a) of the Act, the public interest in maintaining the exemption does not outweigh the public interest in disclosure of these documents. Information Tribunal appeal number EA/2011/0050 part allowed.