Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

The complainant submitted a request to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) seeking a) copies of “DipTels”, ie diplomatic telegrams, from the British Embassy in Caracas to the FCDO in London relating to Boris Johnson's 2024 visit to Venezuela and b) communications between David Cameron and Boris Johnson about this visit. The FCDO stated that it did not hold any “DipTels”, and initially withheld two text messages falling within the second part the request on the basis of section 27(1)(a) (international relations) of FOIA. It subsequently, disclosed the two text messages with redactions on the basis of sections 27(1)(a) and 40(2) (personal data) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that on the balance of probabilities the FCDO does not hold information falling within the scope of part 1 of the request. In relation to the part 2 of the request, the information redacted on the basis of section 27(1)(a) is exempt from disclosure on the basis of that exemption; the information redacted on the basis of section 40(2) is not exempt from disclosure on the basis of that exemption; and that the FCDO breached section 10(1) of FOIA by failing to respond to the request within 20 working days.