Freedom of Information Act – Internal reviews guidance

The task

The task of the Reviewer is to fairly and independently assess our response and answer three main questions:

Have we complied with the law?

We must respond to a request within 20 working days.

We must, in most cases, clearly state whether information is held.

• The Reviewer must be satisfied that we do/do not hold what we have advised the requester.
• There may be some occasions where we ‘neither confirm nor deny’ if we hold information, as stating what information is held might, in itself, disclose detail we wish to withhold

We have a responsibility to advise and assist the requester. Depending on the request, this may include adequately explaining our position, directing the requester to a more likely source of the information they require or providing similar/related information which may help the requester.

If the information was refused or exempted, was this appropriate?

We can legitimately refuse to provide the information on the following grounds:

• Retrieving the data would exceed the time/cost limit (£600/24 hours).
• The request was repeated or vexatious.

We can partially or wholly exempt the information.

• The Reviewer must be satisfied the exemption(s) applied are appropriate.
• Detailed guidance to the exemptions is available from the sources listed below.

If the information was exempted, was the public interest properly considered?

Many exemptions require us to explain our consideration of the public interest, and how this was balanced in favour of withholding the information.

• The Reviewer must be satisfied that the public interest test described is balanced and fair.
• It is worth noting that there is always a lean toward disclosure due to the public interest in promoting transparency.

Further guidance

There are a number of resources available, including:

• The Information Compliance team (for general FOI information) - ext. 2559
• The Clerk of Journals (for procedural advice) - ext. 3315
• The Speaker’s Counsel Office (for legal advice) - ext. 3772
• The ICO Guide to freedom of information

House of Commons Information Compliance

Last reviewed April 2022