Ministry of Defence

The complainant submitted a request to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) seeking information about meetings that a Cabinet Office adviser, Andrew Sabisky, had with defence officials. The MOD confirmed that it held some information about one such meeting and confirmed the date and location of this. However, it explained that it considered a presentation and letter relating to the discussions at the meeting to be exempt from disclosure on the basis of the following sections of FOIA: 35(1)(a) (formulation or development of government policy), 35(1)(b) (Ministerial communications), 24(1) (national security), 26(1)(b), 27(1)(a) (international relations) and 43(2) (commercial interests). The Commissioner’s decision is that the information in question is exempt from disclosure on the basis of sections 35(1)(a) and 35(1)(b) and that in all the circumstances of the request the public interest favours maintaining exemptions. However, the Commissioner has also concluded that the MOD breached section 17(3) by failing to complete its public interest test considerations in a reasonable time. No steps are required.