Secretary of State for the Home Department (Home Office)

The complainant requested information relating to stalking and harassment in Spain between specified dates. The Home Office refused to confirm or deny whether any information was held in relation to  parts a and c of the request, relying on the ‘neither confirm nor deny’ provisions in sections 27 (international relations) and 31 (law enforcement) of FOIA. The Home Office said it would respond to part b of the the request separately given this constitutes a ‘subject access request’ for the complainant’s own information, so this aspect has been excluded from any further consideration in this notice. During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation, the Home Office revised its position in light of a statement made by the complainant in his grounds of complaint, and now said it did not hold the requested information for parts a and c of the request. The Commissioner’s decision is that, on the balance of probabilities, no recorded information is held by the Home Office in relation to parts a and c of the request, for the reasons set out in this notice. He has recorded a breach of section 10 of FOIA for the Home Office’s failure to respond to the request within the statutory 20 working days’ timeframe. In addition, he considers that the Home Office’s handling of the request breached section 17(3) of FOIA. No steps are required as a result of this notice.