Secretary of State for Defence (Ministry of Defence)

The complainant submitted a request to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) seeking summary statistics on the number of days the UK's four Vanguard-class submarines have each been at sea on patrol over the last ten years. The MOD confirmed that it held the requested information but it considered this to be exempt from disclosure on the basis of sections 24(1) (national security) and 26(1)(a) and (b) (defence) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that the requested information is exempt from disclosure on the basis of sections 26(1)(a) and (b) and that the public interest favours maintaining each exemption.