Secretary of State for the Home Department (Home Office)

The complainant requested information relating to the systems used by the Home Office to store information on the Gatwick Drone (Operation Trebor) Incident. The Home Office would neither confirm nor deny (NCND) holding the requested information, citing section 24(2) (national security) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Home Office is not entitled to refuse to confirm or deny, under section 24(2) of FOIA, holding the requested information in scope of the first part of the request. With respect to the information in scope of the second part of the request, the Commissioner’s decision is that the Home Office was entitled to rely on section 24(2) of FOIA to neither confirm nor deny holding that information.  The Commissioner requires the Home Office to take the following step to ensure compliance with the legislation: confirm or deny whether it holds information in scope of part (1) of the request. If any information is held, the Home Office must either disclose it or issue an appropriate refusal notice in compliance with section 17 of FOIA.