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The exemption in s31 ( Law enforcement )
The exemption in s31 (Law enforcement)
Under s31(1), information which is not exempt information by virtue of s30 (Investigations and proceedings conducted by public authorities) is exempt information if its disclosure under FOIA would, or would be likely to, prejudice (amongst other things)
the prevention or detection of crime
the operation of immigration control
Section 31 is not an absolute exemption. This means that it is effective (to prevent an obligation to disclose) only where in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information (s2(2)). I refer to this in what follows as the public interest balancing test, or PIBT.
- Heading
- The decision of the Upper Tribunal is to dismiss the appeal. The decision of the First-tier Tribunal under reference EA/2022/0228, issued on 1 February 2023, did not involve the making of an error on
- The information request that led to the IC decision notice and its context
- HO’s response to the information request
- The IC decision notice
- The exemption in s31 ( Law enforcement )
- The FTT hearing and the conclusions in the FTT decision
- Decision on likelihood of prejudice
- Conclusions on PIBT
- Conclusions on PLP’s “further information” request
- Grounds of appeal
- Upper Tribunal’s analysis
- Erred in relying on ‘insufficient’ evidence?
- Erred in not taking PLP’s evidence into account?
- Inadequate reasons?
- Grounds related to PIBT
- Ground b.ii
- Ground b.iii
- Ground c.: PLP’s “further information” request
- Conclusions