Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

The complainant submitted a request to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO, now part of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, FCDO) for correspondence between the European Commission and the UK Representative to the EU about the appointment of a UK Commissioner to the EU. The FCO withheld the information on the basis of the exemptions contained at sections 27(1)(b) and 27(2) (international relations) and section 41(1) (information provided in confidence) of FOIA. The Commissioner is satisfied that the FCO was entitled to rely on section 27(1)(b) to withhold all of the information falling within the scope of the request and that in all of the circumstances of the case the public interest favoured maintaining the exemption..