Secretary of State for the Home Department (Home Office)

The complainant requested specified information associated with Facial Matching Checks in a two-part request. Ultimately, the Home Office relied on sections 21 (information reasonably accessible to the applicant by other means) and 31(1)(a) (prejudice to the prevention or detection of crime) of FOIA for part 1 of the request. For part 2, the Home Office relied on sections 31(1)(a) and 31(1)(e) (prejudice to the operation of the immigration controls). The complainant subsequently confirmed he was only concerned with the second part of his request, so the Commissioner has not considered the Home Office’s handling of part 1 of the request. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Home Office was entitled to rely on sections 31(1)(a) and (e) of FOIA to refuse to provide the requested information requested at part 2, for the reasons set out in this notice. No steps are required as a result of this notice.