Cabinet Office

The complainant submitted a request to the Cabinet Office seeking correspondence between it and the University of Southampton about the Broadlands Archive for the period 2016 to 2018. The Cabinet Office provided the complainant with some information but sought to withhold further information on the basis of the following sections of FOIA: 21(1) (information reasonably accessible to the applicant), 35(1)(a) (formulation and development of government policy), 40(2) (personal data) and 41(1) (information provided in confidence). The Commissioner’s decision is that sections 21(1) and 35(1)(a) do not provide a basis to withhold any of the information in the scope of the request. She has also concluded that sections 40(2) and 41(1) provide a basis to withhold some, but not all, of the information to which the Cabinet Office has applied those exemptions. Furthermore, the Commissioner has concluded that the Cabinet Office breached section 17(3) of FOIA by failing to issue its public interest test considerations and provide the complainant with a substantive response to his request within a reasonable timeframe. Information Tribunal EA/2021/0125 appeal withdrawn.