Cabinet Office
- Date 16 January 2023
- Sector Central government
- Decision(s) FOI 35(1)(a): Upheld, FOI 35(1)(d): Upheld, FOI 41(1): Partly upheld
The complainant has requested information on meetings held between ministers and McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Cabinet Office cannot rely on FOIA section 35(1)(a) – formulation or development of government policy, to withhold the requested information as the public interest favours disclosure. He does not consider that FOIA section 35(1)(d) – operation of any Ministerial office, was correctly engaged by the Cabinet Office. However, the Commissioner considers that the FOIA section 41(1) – information provided in confidence was appropriately applied to two bullet points redacted on the readout of 20 March 2020 and also to the majority of the readout of 2 July 2020, excluding the first three sections set out in the confidential annex.
The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. Disclose the information contained in the annex to this decision notice. The public authority must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of FOIA and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.