Foreign and Commonwealth Office
- Date 9 May 2018
- Sector Central government
- Decision(s) FOI 17: Partly upheld, FOI 27: Partly upheld, FOI 40: Partly upheld
The complainant submitted a request to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) for copies of the material that it continued to withhold from four files concerning the British Indian Ocean Territory. The FCO provided the complainant with some of the requested information but withheld the remainder on the basis of sections 27(1)(a), (c) and (d) (international relations) and 40(2) (personal data) of FOIA. The Commissioner has concluded that only some of the withheld information is exempt on the basis of these exemptions. The information in question is identified in the annex attached to this notice. The FCO also relied on the provision contained at section 17(4) of FOIA in order not to provide the complainant with its reasoning as to why sections 27(1)(a), (c) and (d) applied. The Commissioner has concluded that some, albeit not all, of this reasoning could be provided to the complainant without any exempt information being revealed.