Information Commissioner

The complainant requested a copy of a submission provided by a public authority in response to a complaint he had made. The Information Commissioner (“the ICO”) withheld the requested information as it considered that disclosure would contravene section 132 of the Data Protection Act 2018 and therefore section 44 of the FOIA (statutory prohibition on disclosure) would apply. The Commissioner’s decision is that the ICO is entitled to rely on section 44 of the FOIA to withhold the requested information. However, as the ICO’s refusal notice was not issued within 20 working days and failed to state that it was relying on section 44 of the FOIA to withhold information, the ICO breached section 17 of the FOIA. The Commissioner does not require further steps.