Does the exemption apply to historical records?

Yes. You can still apply section 31 to information contained in a historical record, unless the record is more than 100 years old. A historical record is one that is over 20 years old. This is set out in section 63 of FOIA.

Once a record becomes a historical record, you can no longer rely on section 30 to withhold it. However, because section 30 no longer applies, you can rely on section 31 instead if you can demonstrate that disclosing the historical record could still cause harm.

You can rely on section 31(3) to refuse to confirm or deny whether you hold records that would be less than 100 years old.