Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

The complainant submitted a request to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) seeking correspondence between Baroness Verma and parts of the FCDO. The FCDO confirmed that it held information falling within the scope of the request but considered this to be exempt from disclosure on the basis of sections 27(1)(a) and (c) (international relations), 43(2) (commercial interests) and 40(2) (personal data) of FOIA. At the internal review stage it withdrew its reliance on sections 27 and 43 and disclosed the information to which these exemptions had been applied. The complainant questioned whether the FCDO was likely to hold further information falling within the scope of his request and was dissatisfied with the FCDO’s delays in providing the information it did disclose to him. The Commissioner’s decision is that on the balance of probabilities the FCDO has located all of the information it holds falling within the scope of the request. However, he has found that the FCDO breached section 10(1) in the handling of this request.