Home Office

The complainant made two requests for information regarding a former Home Secretary’s trip to the United States in September 2023 to give a speech to the American Enterprise Institute.
The Home Office relied on section 12(1) (cost limit) of FOIA to refuse both requests as the aggregated cost of responding would have exceeded the appropriate limit.
The Commissioner’s decision is that the Home Office was entitled to consider the combined cost of responding to both requests and that it has reasonably estimated that combined cost as exceeding the appropriate limit. Consequently, the Home Office was entitled to refuse to comply with the requests in accordance with section 12(1).
The Commissioner finds that the Home Office has complied with its obligations under section 16 of FOIA to offer advice and assistance.
The Commissioner does not require further steps.