Ministry of Justice

The complainant requested information about payments made, or applied for, from central funds and/or legal aid in relation to a named individual. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) refused to confirm or deny whether it held some of the requested information - information relating to a specific court case - citing section 40(5) of FOIA (personal information). It stated that it had not received the clarification it required to respond to the remainder of the request. The Commissioner’s decision is that the MoJ was entitled to rely on section 40(5)(b)(i) in relation to the first part of the request. However, with respect to the remainder of the request, the Commissioner’s decision is that the MoJ did not require clarification of the request and she requires the MoJ to issue a fresh response to the complainant.