Ministry of Justice

The complainant made a request for an Office of Judicial Complaints (‘OJC’) investigation statement in relation to a named Judge. The Ministry of Justice (the ‘MOJ’) would neither confirm nor deny (‘NCND’) whether it held the requested information, citing the NCND provisions in sections 44(2) – prohibitions on disclosure - and 40(5) – personal information - of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that the MOJ has correctly applied section 44 on the basis that disclosure of the information requested was prohibited by section 139 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. As she has found this exemption to be engaged, she has not found it necessary to consider the MOJ’s reliance on section 40(5). However, as the MOJ failed to issue its’ refusal notice within the requisite 20 working days’ time limit, it has breached section 17(1) of FOIA. The Commissioner does not require the MOJ to take any steps as a result of this notice.