Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office FCDO (previously FCO)

The complainant submitted a request to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) seeking electronic communications relating to the visit of the (then) Prince Andrew to Egypt and UAE in January 2008. The FCDO disclosed information to the complainant with redactions on the basis of section 40(2) (personal data) of FOIA. The complainant challenged the application of this exemption and argued that the FCDO was likely to hold further information falling within the scope of his request. The Commissioner’s decision is that the redacted information is exempt from disclosure on the basis of section 40(2) of FOIA and that on the balance of probabilities the FCDO has located all of the information it holds falling within the scope of the request. However the FCDO breached section 17(3) of FOIA by failing to complete its public interest considerations within a reasonable time.