Ministry of Justice
- Date 4 May 2023
- Sector Central government
- Decision(s) FOI 31: Partly upheld, FOI 38: Not upheld
The complainant has requested a copy of a withdrawn prison service instruction (‘the PSI’) on security incident reporting, and a copy of the policy that replaced it. The Ministry of Justice (‘the MoJ’) said that the information was exempt from disclosure under sections 31(1)(f) (Law enforcement) and 38(1)(a)(b) (Health and safety) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that the MoJ was entitled to rely on section 31(1)(f) to withhold some of the information. However, some of the information in the PSI is not exempt under section 31 or section 38 of FOIA. The Commissioner requires the MoJ to disclose the PSI except paragraphs 8, 15, 16 (second paragraph only, at the top of page 10), 22, 23, 44, 45 and Annex B, which the Commissioner has determined are exempt under section 31(1)(f). Redactions should be made to withhold the names and contact details of any third parties.