Ministry of Justice
- Date 11 September 2017
- Sector Central government
- Decision(s) FOI 32: Upheld, FOI 40: Upheld
The complainant requested information about court processes and procedures and highlighted a specific case as an example. The Ministry of Justice (the ‘MOJ’) refused to confirm or deny whether it held the requested information, citing section 32(3) court records and 40(5) personal information. Although following its internal review, the MOJ provided some of the requested information “in a general non-case specific basis”, it maintained that sections 32(3) and 40(5) applied. The Commissioner’s decision is that neither exemption is engaged because the request is not about a particular court case. She requires the MOJ to issue a fresh response under the FOIA to all parts of the request (apart from part 9) which does not rely on sections 40(5) or 32(3).