Cabinet Office

The complainant requested the minutes of discussions of the Cabinet Committee on devolution, dating from 1997 and 1998. The public authority refused the request, citing the exemptions provided by the following sections of the Act: 28(1) (prejudice to relations within the UK), 35(1)(a) (information relating to the formulation or development of government policy) and 35(1)(b) (information relating to Ministerial communications). In the course of the Commissioner’s investigation, the public authority also cited the exemption provided by section 42(1) (legal professional privilege) in relation to excerpts from the information. The Commissioner upholds the exemptions provided by sections 35(1)(a) and 35(1)(b) in relation to a minority of the information, including any content which identifies individual participants in the discussions, and section 42(1) in relation to the entirety of the information in connection with which this exemption was cited. In respect of that information, the public interest favours maintaining the exemptions. However, the Commissioner finds that the remainder of the information is not exempt and the public authority is required to disclose this information. Information Tribunal appeal EA/2011/0231 withdrawn.