Key Facts
- •Appeal against the Information Commissioner's decision concerning a Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) request.
- •Request for information about projects funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in the occupied Palestinian territories.
- •FCDO withheld information regarding the identities of some project initiators.
- •Appeal concerned the application of FOIA exemptions under sections 27(1)(a), (b), (c), (d), 27(2), 27(3), and 43(2).
- •Tribunal heard closed evidence to protect sensitive information related to UK's international relations.
Legal Principles
FOIA section 27 is a qualified exemption, requiring a public interest balancing test.
FOIA, section 27
Approach to prejudice-based exemptions: identify interests, consider nature and likelihood of prejudice (real, actual, or of substance; real and significant risk).
Hogan v Information Commissioner [2011] 1 Info LR 588; Department for Work and Pensions v Information Commissioner [2017] 1 WLR 1
Appropriate weight must be given to executive branch evidence on prejudice to international relations.
All Party Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition v Information Commissioner and Ministry of Defence [2011] UKUT 153; FCO v Information Commissioner and Plowden [2013] UKUT 275
Tribunal reviews findings of fact and makes its own decision under FOIA section 58.
FOIA, section 58
Public interest balancing test considers both public interest in disclosure (transparency, accountability) and public interest in maintaining exemption (damage to international relations, UK interests).
Department for Business and Trade v Information Commissioner and Brendan Montague [2023] EWCA 1378
Outcomes
Appeal allowed in part.
FCDO was not entitled to withhold information under section 27(1)(b) as that information was outside the scope of the request. However, FCDO was entitled to withhold information under sections 27(1)(a), 27(1)(c), and 27(1)(d) regarding the identities of some project initiators for Project 7 due to the risk of prejudice to UK international relations and interests.