Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The complainant submitted a request to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) seeking information regarding claims the UK had made about Russian disinformation following the Novichok poisoning in Salisbury. The FCO provided the complainant with information which it argued fell within the scope of his request, a position which the complainant disputed. The Commissioner has concluded that the information disclosed by the FCO does not fall within the scope of the request. The FCO therefore failed to comply with the requirements of section 1(1) of FOIA by not stating, as it should have done, then it did not hold any information falling within the scope of the request. Furthermore, the Commissioner has concluded that the FCO breached section 10(1) of FOIA by failing to provide a substantive response to the request within 20 working days.