Crown Prosecution Service

The complainant submitted a multi-part request for specified information relating to mortgage fraud and/or a specific criminal prosecution. Ultimately, the Crown Prosecution Service (the ‘CPS’) said that some of the requested information was not held (for parts 1 to 7 of the request) and that the remainder (part 8) was being withheld under section 31(1) of FOIA – the law enforcement exemption. During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation, the CPS partly revised its position; it said it was no longer relying on section 31(1) for part 8 of the request, but instead cited section 30(1)(c) – the FOIA exemption for any criminal proceedings which the authority has power to conduct. The Commissioner’s decision is that, on the balance of probabilities, no recorded information is held by the CPS for parts 1 to 7 of the request. He also finds that the CPS properly relied on section 30(1)(c) of FOIA to withhold the information at part 8 of the request. No steps are required as a result of this notice. Information Tribunal FT/EA/2025/0255 under appeal.