Ministry of Defence
- Date 27 September 2019
- Sector Central government
- Decision(s) FOI 14: Not upheld, FOI 17: Upheld
The complainant submitted a request to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) seeking all communications sent and received by a particular special adviser relating to a newspaper article concerning the testing of a Trident missile. The MOD confirmed that it held information within the scope of the request but it considered this to be exempt from disclosure on the basis of qualified exemptions within FOIA and it needed additional time to consider the balance of the public interest. The MOD continued to extend the time it needed to consider the balance of the public interest before deciding to refuse this request on the basis of section 14(1) of FOIA because of the burden of complying with it. The Commissioner has concluded that the MOD can refuse to comply with the request on the basis of section 14(1) but breached section 17(1) of FOIA by failing to issue a refusal stating this within 20 working days of the request.