Secretary of State for the Home Department (Home Office)

The complainant requested a specified Business Case and associated documentation relating to the ‘Cerberus’ project (see ‘Background’ section below). The Home Office initially refused to provide any of the requested information, relying on section 31(1)(a) of FOIA – the exemption for prejudice to the prevention and detection of crime. At internal review, the Home Office additionally cited section 40(2) of FOIA to withhold the personal information within the requested material. During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation, the Home Office revised its position and disclosed redacted versions of the requested material, relying on the same FOIA exemptions. The complainant asked the Commissioner to focus his investigation on fifteen of the disclosed redacted documents. He also advised that he was not concerned with the Home Office’s reliance on section 40(2) of FOIA, so the Commissioner has not considered this aspect any further. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Home Office has properly relied on section 31(1)(a) of FOIA for all the redactions within the disclosed fifteen documents identified by the complainant as being of particular interest to him. No steps are required as a result of this decision.