Department For Transport

The complainant has requested DfT to disclose any documents on the preparations and the decision on how to proceed with HS2, which were created as a result of the Secretary of State’s (SofS) direction for a pre-summer recession decision in 2019. DfT confirmed that it does not hold the information and referred to the complainant’s previous requests on this topic and the information provided. The Commissioner’s decision is that on the balance of probabilities DfT does not hold the information and so regulation 12(4)(a) of the EIR applies. He has however recorded a breach of regulation 14(2) and 14(3) of the EIR, as DfT failed to issue its refusal notice within 20 working days of the receipt of the request and failed to cite the exception (confirming that it does not hold the information) on which it relied. The Commissioner does not require further steps to be taken.