Ministry of Justice

The complainant requested quarterly offender management statistics. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) refused to provide the requested statistics, citing sections 21 (information accessible to applicant by other means) and 14 (vexatious request) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that the MoJ has not demonstrated that the request was vexatious and was therefore not entitled to rely on section 14(1) to refuse it. Nor has the MoJ demonstrated that the information was reasonably accessible to the applicant and was therefore not entitled to rely on section 21(1) to refuse it. The Commissioner requires the MoJ to take the following step to ensure compliance with the legislation: provide the requested statistics.