Ministry of Justice
- Date 22 May 2017
- Sector Central government
- Decision(s) FOI 1: Not upheld
The complainant requested a planning report written by a named individual from the Ministry of Justice (the ‘MOJ’). Initially the MOJ neither confirmed nor denied whether it held this information, citing sections 32(3) and 40(5) of FOIA, court records and personal information respectively. Following an internal review, the MOJ instead said it required further clarification of the request in order to determine whether it held the requested report. The Commissioner’s decision is that the MOJ was entitled to rely on section 1(3) of the FOIA because it required clarification as to which report the complainant has requested. The Commissioner does not require the MOJ to take any steps to comply with the legislation.