Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office FCDO (previously FCO)

The complainant submitted a request to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) seeking information about an article published in 2012 by The Herald newspaper concerning the Lockerbie bombing. The FCDO disclosed some information in scope, withheld other information on a range of exemptions, and also refused to confirm or deny whether it held any further information, again citing a number of exemptions to do so. The Commissioner’s decision is that the information which the FCDO has confirmed it holds is exempt from disclosure on the basis of sections 27(1)(a), (c) and (d) of FOIA; the FCDO is also entitled to refuse to confirm or deny whether it holds any further information on the basis of sections 23(5) and 24(2) of FOIA; and, the FCDO breached section 17(1) by failing to respond to the request within 20 working days.