Cabinet Office

The complainant has requested information linked to the Covid-19 Strategy committee meetings held from 2020 to 2021. The Cabinet Office (“[the public authority]”) initially refused the request in reliance on FOIA section 35(1)(b) – Ministerial communications. The UK Covid-19 Inquiry published information in the scope of the request which led to the Cabinet Office also relying on FOIA section 21 – information accessible to the applicant by other means. The Commissioner’s decision is that some of the information has been appropriately withheld under FOIA section 35(1)(b) whilst the public interest favours disclosure of other information. The Commissioner finds that the Cabinet Office correctly relied on FOIA section 21(1) to withhold some of the information in the scope of the request. The Commissioner requires the Cabinet Office to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation - Disclose the information set out in the confidential annex to this notice. The public authority must take these steps within 30 calendar days of the date 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.