Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The complainant submitted a request to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (‘the FCO’) for information regarding events around the Libyan Embassy protest on 17 April 1984. The FCO confirmed that it holds information relevant to the request. It repeatedly advised the complainant that it required further time to consider the public interest test. To date, the FCO has failed to provide the complainant with a substantive response. By failing to do so the Commissioner has concluded that the FCO breached section 17(3) of the FOIA. The Commissioner requires the FCO to provide the complainant with a substantive response to his information request. If the FCO decides to withhold any information then the complainant should be provided with a refusal notice giving a full explanation as to why the information will not be disclosed, including details of any public interest test considerations.