Cabinet Office
- Date 4 August 2022
- Sector Central government
- Decision(s) FOI 10(1): Upheld, FOI 31(1)(g): Not upheld
The complainant has requested information concerning the Cabinet Office inquiry into bullying allegations made against the Home Secretary, Priti Patel. The Cabinet Office withheld the requested information on the basis of the following exemptions under the FOIA, section 31(1)(g)(law enforcement), section 41(information provided by a third party in confidence) and section 40(2)(third party personal data).
The Commissioner’s decision is that the Cabinet Office is entitled to withhold all of the withheld information under section 31(1)(g) and that the balance of the public interest favours maintaining the exemption to the information. However, the Commissioner finds that the Cabinet Office breached section 10(1) of FOIA, in that they failed to provide a valid response to the request within the statutory time frame of 20 working days.
The Commissioner does not require the Cabinet Office to take any steps in respect of this matter.