Secretary of State for Defence (Ministry of Defence)

The complainant has requested how many transfers and quantity by weight of special nuclear materials (for purposes other than nuclear threat reduction) had taken place each year since the end of 2014 to the date of the request. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) refused to provide this information, citing section 24(1) – (National Security), section 26(1)(a) and (b) (Defence) and section 27(1) (International relations) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that the MOD cited section 24(1) of FOIA appropriately and that the public interest lies in withholding the requested information. However, the Commissioner has found that the MOD breached section 17(1)(b) of FOIA by relying later on exemptions it had not originally cited when it required extra time to consider the public interest. The Commissioner does not require further steps.