Cabinet Office

The complainant submitted a request to the Cabinet Office seeking information about the conduct of internal government leak inquiries. The Cabinet Office withheld information falling within the scope of the request on the basis of section 24(1) (national security), sections 31(1)(a) and (b) and 31(2)(a) and (b) (law enforcement), sections 36(2)(b)(i), (ii) and (c) (effective conduct of public affairs), and section 41(1) (information provided in confidence). The Commissioner’s decision is that the withheld information is exempt  from disclosure on the basis of sections 31(1)(a) and (b) and 31(2)(a) and (b) of FOIA and that for each of the exemptions the public interest favours maintaining the exemption.