Martin-Clark v (1) Information Commissioner's Office; (2) Homes for Haringey: [2023] UKUT 245 (AAC)
Upper Tribunal Administrative Appeals Chamber decision by Judge Church on 3 October 2023.
Read the full decision in .
Judicial Summary
In this case I consider whether, when faced with a document held by a public authority that contains substantial quantities of information which satisfy the criteria for one or more exemptions under the Freedom Of Information Act and which may contain information which does not qualify for any exemption, but which is considered likely to be ‘peripheral’ only, the Information Commissioner (or the First-tier Tribunal standing in his shoes) is entitled to:
decline to carry out a granular analysis of the document to assess what information is exempt and what is not, if such an exercise would not be ‘proportionate’; and
treat the entire document as exempt.
In this decision I also discuss the discretion under section 50(4) Freedom Of Information Act not to specify any steps to be taken by a public authority even where that public authority has failed to comply with its duties under section 1(1) Freedom Of Information Act, and what amounts to ‘adequacy’ when it comes to a tribunal’s reasons in an information rights context.