Secretary of State for the Home Department (Home Office)
- Date 27 March 2025
- Sector Central government
- Decision(s) FOI 1(1): Upheld, FOI 10(1): Upheld, FOI 35(1)(a): Not upheld, FOI 43(2): Not upheld
The complainant requested information about a meeting between the Home Office (HO) and Facewatch. HO originally withheld all the information under sections 35(1), 43(2) and 40(2) of FOIA, which concern the formulation of government policy etc, commercial interests and personal data respectively. HO has now withdrawn its application of the exemptions to some of the information and has confirmed that it will disclose this. The Commissioner’s decision is that the remaining information that HO continues to withhold is exempt information under sections 35(1)(a) and 43(2) of FOIA. Because it’s communicating some of the requested information at this point, HO didn’t comply with sections 1(1) and 10(1) of FOIA, which concern timeliness. The Commissioner requires HO to take the following step to ensure compliance with the legislation: If it hasn’t already done so, disclose to the complainant the information in the briefing document that HO has identified it can release.