Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)

The complainant requested information from DCMS about exemptions given by the Secretary of State, concerning the transfer of specific files to the National Archives. By the date of this notice DCMS had failed to provide a substantive response to this request. The Commissioner’s decision is that DCMS has breached section 10(1) of the FOIA in that it failed to provide a valid response to the request within the statutory time frame of 20 working days. The Commissioner requires DCMS to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. Respond to the complainant’s request in accordance with the FOIA. DCMS must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as contempt of court.