Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
- Date 14 December 2021
- Sector Central government
- Decision(s) FOI 23: Not upheld, FOI 24: Not upheld, FOI 26: Not upheld, FOI 27: Not upheld, FOI 36: Not upheld, FOI 40: Not upheld, FOI 42: Not upheld
The complainant submitted a request to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) (now the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, FCDO) seeking information about the settlement made to men from the UK who had been held in Guantanamo Bay. The FCO refused to provide the information in the scope of the request on the basis of sections 27(1)(a) (international relations), 36(2) (effective conduct of public affairs, 40(2) (personal data) and 42(1) (legal professional privilege) of FOIA. The FCO also refused to confirm or deny whether it held any further information falling within the scope of the request on the basis of sections 23(5) (security bodies) and 24(2) (national security) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that FCO was entitled to withhold the information it acknowledged it held on the basis of the exemptions cited above. The Commissioner is satisfied that the FCO was entitled to refuse to confirm or deny whether it held any further information in the scope of the request on the basis of sections 23(5) and 24(2) of FOIA.