HM Treasury

The complainant requested information about the Private Office files of Sir Geoffrey Howe for 1982, when Sir Howe was Chancellor of the Exchequer. HM Treasury refused to disclose the information, citing the exemption under section 22 of the FOIA (intended for future publication). In the course of the Commissioner’s investigation, the Treasury also re-applied the exemption under section 14(1) (vexatious request) that it had previously applied to the request and subsequently withdrawn. The Commissioner’s decision is that HM Treasury has correctly applied the exemption at section 14(1) but that the section 22 exemption is not engaged. The Commissioner does not require the public authority to take any further steps. This decision notice is currenty under appeal to the Tribunal.