Department For Transport

The complainant has requested DfT to disclose any documents created up to 15 July 2019, that discussed the HS2 Ltd’s Chairman’s draft Stocktake report. DfT confirmed that it does not hold the information and referred the complainant to their previous requests and the information provided on this topic. The Commissioner’s decision is that on the balance of probabilities DfT does not hold the information. Regulation 12(4)(a) of the EIR therefore applies to the request. However, the Commissioner has recorded a breach of regulation 14(2) and 14(3) of the EIR, as DfT failed to issue its refusal notice within 20 working days of the receipt of the request and failed to cite the exception (confirming that it does not the information) on which it relied. The Commissioner does not require further steps to be taken.