Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office FCDO (previously FCO)

The complainant has made three requests to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for files held by the Middle East department (MED) in relation to the Duke of York’s visits to, Egypt, Kuwait and UAE during 2008. The FCDO aggregated the requests and relied on section 12(1) of FOIA (cost of compliance) to refuse all of the requests.
The Commissioner’s decision is that the public authority was entitled to rely on section 12(1) of FOIA to refuse the request. The Commissioner also finds that the FCDO complied with its section 16 obligation to offer advice and assistance.
The Commissioner does not require further steps to be taken.