Home Office

The complainant has requested information about the settlement agreed between the Home Office and former Permanent Secretary, Sir Philip Rutnam. Although the Home Office provided some general information, it refused to comply with the request as a whole, citing section 12 (Cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Home Office was entitled to rely on section 12 to refuse the request. It also complied with its duty to provide advice and assistance in line with the requirements of section 16 of FOIA. However, by failing to respond to the request within 20 working days, the Home Office breached section 1 and section 10 of FOIA. The Commissioner requires no steps as a result of this decision.