Cabinet Office

The complainant requested due diligence reports relating to the appointment of Chris Pincher as Deputy Chief Whip. The Cabinet Office refused to confirm or deny whether the information was held, citing the exemptions for prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs (section 36(3)) and personal information (section 40(5)) of the FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that the exemption in section 40(5) does not apply and that, whilst the exemption in section 36(3) is engaged, the public interest in favour of confirming or denying whether information is held is greater than the public interest in maintaining the exemption. The Commissioner requires the Cabinet Office to confirm or deny whether the requested information is held. If information is held, it should either be disclosed or the Cabinet Office should issue a fresh refusal notice in compliance with section 17 of the FOIA.