Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
- Date 25 July 2023
- Sector Central government
- Decision(s) FOI 1: Not upheld, FOI 17(3): Upheld, FOI 40(2): Not upheld
The complainant requested from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (the ‘FCDO’) all information associated with its visit to the University of Southampton in 2018 regarding an archive containing the papers of 1st Earl Mountbatten and Countess Mountbatten. The FCDO disclosed some documents but sought to withhold personal data under section 40(2) FOIA. The complainant believes that the FCDO holds further information falling within the scope of the request. The Commissioner’s decision is that, on the balance of probabilities, the FCDO has disclosed all the information falling within the scope of the request and has complied with section 1(1) of FOIA. In addition, the Commissioner also considers that section 40(2) of FOIA has been correctly applied. However, the FCDO breached section 17(3) of FOIA given the time it took complete its public interest test considerations before issuing a substantive response to the request. The Commissioner does not require the public authority to take any steps.