Cabinet Office

The complainant has requested honours correspondence relating to Sir Peter Morrison and Sir Peter Hayman from the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office disclosed some information and asserted that it held no further information within the scope of the complainant’s request. It upheld this position after internal review. During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation, the Cabinet Office found two newspaper cuttings which, in its view, fall within the scope of one of the complainant’s requests although it did not provide them to the complainant. It argued that they would be reasonably accessible to him. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Cabinet Office must either provide these cuttings to the complainant or issue a refusal notice explaining why it is not obliged to do so. In failing to do so, it has contravened the requirements of section 1(1) of the Act. The public authority must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court. However, the Commissioner is satisfied that the Cabinet Office does not hold any further information within the scope of the complainant’s request.