Cabinet Office

The complainant has requested, from the Cabinet Office, information about government buildings where RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) is present and RAAC surveys. Whilst the Cabinet Office confirmed to the complainant that RAAC surveys have been carried out in Cabinet Office buildings, it withheld information on the basis of regulations 12(4)(d) (material still in the course of completion, unfinished documents or incomplete data), 12(4)(e) (internal communications) and 12(5)(a) (international relations, defence, national security or public safety) of the EIR. During the Commissioner’s investigation, the Cabinet Office confirmed to the Commissioner that the information being withheld in respect of part 3 of the request wasn’t actually held at the time the request was received, although it was held when the Cabinet Office responded to it. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Cabinet Office wasn’t entitled to rely on regulations 12(4)(d) or 12(4)(e) to withhold the information requested in part 1 of the request. He also finds that, on the balance of probabilities, at the time of the request the Cabinet Office didn’t hold the information requested in part 3 of the request. Furthermore he finds that the Cabinet Office breached regulations 11 and 14 as it failed to provide a substantive internal review response and didn’t cite regulations 12(4)(a) and (e) at the time of its response. The Commissioner requires the Cabinet Office to disclose the percentage figure requested in part 1 of the request. The Cabinet Office must take these steps within 30 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of FOIA, and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.