Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The complainant submitted a request to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) seeking information dating from 1997 relating to the death of British nurse Helen Smith in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 1979. The FCO initially withheld all of the information on the basis of sections 38(1)(a) and (b) (health and safety) and 40(2) (personal data) of FOIA. The FCO subsequently disclosed the requested information to the complainant, albeit with redactions made on the basis of section 40(2) of FOIA. The Commissioner has concluded that the majority of the information redacted is exempt from disclosure on the basis of section 40(2) of FOIA. However, the Commissioner has concluded that a small portion of information is not exempt from disclosure on the basis of section 40(2). The Commissioner has also concluded that the FCO has breached section 10(1) by failing to disclose the information which it accepts is not exempt from disclosure within 20 working days of the request.