Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

The complainant requested correspondence between Prince Charles and Yvette Cooper regarding eco towns between 2007 and 2008. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (“the MHCLG”) said that it holds no environmental information falling within the scope of the request, and applied section 37(2) to neither confirm nor deny whether it holds any information falling within the scope of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that any information falling within the scope of the complainant's request will fall under the EIR to consider. As section 37(2) of FOIA therefore cannot apply, the Commissioner requires the MHCLG to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: to reconsider any information to which it has applied s. 37(2) of FOIA as environmental information for the purposes of the EIR. to provide a fresh response to the complainant under their rights under the EIR.