The complainant has requested information regarding the interaction between the Crown Prosecution Service (“the public authority”) and the police in respect of an investigation known as Operation Magnolia.
The public authority gave a “neither confirm nor deny” (NCND) response to the complainant, on the basis of section 30(3) of FOIA (investigations and proceedings). During the Commissioner’s investigation, the public authority changed its position to rely on section 31(3) of FOIA (law enforcement) to NCND whether it held the information.
The Commissioner’s decision is that the public authority is correct to rely on section 31(3) to NCND whether it holds the requested information; and that the public authority has breached section 17(1)(b), because its refusal notice failed to specify its reliance on section 31(3).
The Commissioner does not require further steps.