Home Office

The complainant requested “any and all” Ministerial submissions relating to Manston Immigration Centre, including a second refined version of the request (with a specified date range), should the original exceed the cost limit in section 12 of FOIA. Ultimately, the Home Office responded to the second refined version of the request, a position which the complainant has not challenged, so the Commissioner has not considered this aspect any further. The Home Office refused to provide the requested information citing the FOIA exemptions in section 31(1)(e) (the operation of immigration controls), section 35(1)(a) (the formulation or development of government policy), section 40(2) (personal information) and section 42(1) (legal professional privilege). The complainant was not concerned about the application of section 40(2) so the Commissioner has disregarded this from his investigation. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Home Office was entitled to rely on section 35(1)(a) of FOIA applied to the majority of the withheld information. He also finds that section 42 of FOIA was engaged where applied. As he has found section 35(1)(a) to be engaged, the Commissioner has not deemed it necessary to consider the Home Office’s reliance on section 31(1)(e) of FOIA which was applied to the same information withheld under section 35(1)(a) of FOIA. No steps are required as a result of this notice.

Keywords: migrants, small boats