Police Service of Northern Ireland

The complainant has requested details of criminal investigations she believes were opened into two judges, one of whom she named. The above public authority relied on section 30 (criminal investigations) and section 40(5B) of FOIA (third party personal data) in order to refuse to confirm nor deny that it held any relevant information. The Commissioner’s decision is that the public authority was entitled to rely on section 40(5B) of FOIA to refuse to confirm or deny that it held any information about the named judge. In respect of the un-named judge, the Commissioner is satisfied that section 30(3) of FOIA is engaged and that the balance of the public interest favours maintaining the exemption. The Commissioner does not require further steps.
Keywords: small numbers