Crown Prosecution Service
- Date 30 April 2026
- Sector Central government, Police and criminal justice
- Decision(s) FOI 40(2): Not upheld
The complainant has requested information from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) about a specific case. The CPS citied section 42(1) – (legal professional privilege) and section 30(1) – (investigations and proceedings conducted by public authorities) of FOIA to withhold information in scope of the request.
The Commissioner’s decision is that any information the CPS held within the scope of the request, not already in the public domain, would be historical criminal offence personal data. Therefore, not only was the CPS entitled to withhold any relevant information not already in the public domain but should in fact have relied upon section 40(2) of FOIA to do so, given the historical and personal nature of the information.
The Commissioner does not require any steps as a result of this decision.
Keywords: Cold case