Cabinet Office

The complainant requested information from the Cabinet Office about its handling of freedom of information requests. The Cabinet Office refused the request under section 14(1) of the FOIA – vexatious requests. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Cabinet Office has failed to demonstrate that the request was vexatious and, therefore, it was not entitled to refuse it under section 14(1). The Commissioner requires the Cabinet Office to take the following step to ensure compliance with the legislation: either disclose the requested information, or issue a fresh refusal notice to the complainant which does not rely on section 14(1) of the FOIA.