Cabinet Office

The complainant has requested information relating to disability access at No.10 Downing Street. He had received information on this subject in response to an earlier request and the Cabinet Office explained that this earlier disclosure was also within the scope of the information described in this request. It argued that it held no further information beyond this within the scope of the request and upheld this position at internal review. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Cabinet Office does hold more information within the scope of the request. In failing to provide a proper response to the complainant it contravened the requirements of section 1 and section 10 of the FOIA. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: Provide the complainant with a response to his request of 19 July 2018 in accordance with the requirements of section 1 of the FOIA. If it seeks to rely on exemptions as its basis for not doing so in whole or in part, it must explain this to the complainant in a refusal notice in accordance with the requirements of the FOIA. The public authority must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.