HM Treasury

The complainant has requested information relating to meetings and correspondence between ministers and officials at HMT and Labour Together.HMT stated that it did not hold the information within the scope of the request.The Commissioner’s decision is that, on the balance of probabilities, HMT does not hold requested information for the purposes of section 1(1)(a) of FOIA. A public authority will breach section 10 if it fails to respond to a request within 20 working days. The request was made on 7 November 2024. HMT did not seek clarification of the request until 16 January 2025, which was outside the statutory 20 working days. The Commissioner therefore finds a breach of section 10(1) of FOIA.The Commissioner requires no steps to be taken.