Ministry of Justice

The complainant requested information relating to a named Judge, including the number of complaints made about him. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) confirmed it held some information within the scope of the request but refused to provide it citing section 32(1) (court records) of the FOIA. It also refused to confirm or deny holding some information within the scope of the request by virtue of sections 44(2) (prohibitions on disclosure), 40(5) (personal information) and 32(3) of the FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that the MoJ was entitled to rely on section 32(1)(b) and (c)(ii) to withhold the information within the scope of parts 1-4 of the request. She also found that the MoJ correctly applied section 44(2) of the FOIA to the remaining requested information on the basis that confirmation or denial was prohibited by section 139 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (CRA). She requires no steps to be taken as a result of this decision.