Cabinet Office

The complainant submitted a request to the Cabinet Office seeking information about the decision by Permanent Secretaries to impose minimum hours on office attendance. The Cabinet Office refused the request on the basis of section 12(1) (cost limit) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Cabinet Office is entitled to refuse this request on the basis of section 12(1) of FOIA. However, it breached section 17(5) of FOIA by failing to issue its refusal notice within 20 working days and also breached section 16(1) as it did not provide the complainant with adequate advice and assistance to allow her to submit a refined request. The Commissioner does not require further steps.