Cabinet Office
- Date 14 July 2025
- Type Practice recommendation
The Commissioner is concerned about the Cabinet Office’s (CO) level of performance in terms of the length of time taken to consider the public interest test (PIT) in requests attracting one or more qualified exemptions under FOIA. This has been highlighted by a detailed analysis of all 161 CO complaints which were closed by the Commissioner between February 2024 and January 2025. Following this analysis and consideration of intelligence provided by the CO in response to enquiries from the Commissioner, the Commissioner has reached the view that the CO’s request handling practices do not conform to parts 4.5 to 4.7 of the section 45 Freedom of Information Code of Practice. The Commissioner has decided to issue this practice recommendation to help ensure transparency and accountability of the CO reliance on section 10(3) of FOIA to extend its PIT considerations, and to assist in achieving CO improvements in timeliness in this regard.