Cabinet Office

The complainant has requested information about advice given in 2022 by the Cabinet Office’s Propriety and Ethics Team (PET) to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Secretary relating to ministerial conflicts of interest.  Specifically, the complainant requested 1) the number of occasions that the PET gave such advice to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Secretary; 2) the number of occasions where that advice was actioned and not actioned by the relevant minister, and 3) the name of any case management database used by the PET to manage such cases.
The Cabinet Office originally advised that they could neither confirm nor deny (NCND) whether they held the information requested in parts 1 and 2 of the request by virtue of section 36(3) of FOIA (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs), and they refused part 3 of the request as vexatious under section 14(1).  Following an internal review the Cabinet Office withdrew reliance on section 14(1) in respect of part 3 of the request and instead applied section 36(3) to the same.
During the Commissioner’s investigation the Cabinet Office revised their position again in respect of parts 1 and 2 of the request.  They confirmed that they did hold the information requested in part 1 but that this was exempt under sections 36(2)(b)(i), (ii) and (c).  In respect of the information requested in part 2 of the request, the Cabinet Office confirmed that they did not hold this information.
The Commissioner’s decision is that the information requested in part 1 of the request is not exempt under sections 36(2)(b)(i) and (ii) but is exempt from disclosure under section 36(2)(c) and the public interest balance favours maintaining the exemption.  The Commissioner finds, on the balance of probabilities, that the information requested in part 2 of the request is held by the Cabinet Office.  In respect of part 3 of the request, the Commissioner has found that the Cabinet Office were correct to NCND whether this information is held by virtue of section 36(3) of the FOIA and that the public interest balance favours maintaining this exemption.
The Commissioner has also found that the Cabinet Office breached section 10(1) of FOIA in that they did not provide a response to the request within the required 20 working days.
The Commissioner requires the Cabinet Office to take the following step to ensure compliance with the legislation:
• Disclose the information held in part 2 of the request or provide the complainant with a fresh response explaining why this information is exempt from disclosure.
The Cabinet Office must take this step within 35 calendar days 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 the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.