Department for Work and Pensions

The complainant has requested documents relating to the costings of the options in the Department for Work and Pensions (“DWP”) Green Paper on state pension reform. The complainant also asked for a comparison of the costings with the current system and documents showing the potential impact of the plans. DWP withheld this information as it related to the formulation and development of government policy and the public interest favoured maintaining the exemption. The Commissioner’s decision is that DWP has correctly applied the exemption and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing information. The Commissioner requires no steps to be taken.