[2025] UKUT 251 (AAC)

Mr Knight for the IC opposed the PSNI’s appeal and argued that the Tribunal was right to dismiss it. In summary, the s.51 power extends, expressly or by necessary implication from the scheme of FOIA as a whole, to information which is said to attract LPP, subject to the specific and limited exception provided by Parliament in s.51(5). The PSNI’s attempt to collapse the distinct provisions within section 51(1) cannot withstand the clear statutory language. The regulatory functions of the IC mandated by FOIA could not operate independently and effectively if the PSNI were correct.

The wider DPA provisions were referred to above by way of emphasis as to the, somewhat concerning, wider implications of the PSNI’s appeal and because the IC’s wider functions have been framed by Parliament in materially the same terms under both FOIA and the DPA. The PSNI is right to note that the original source for the form of s.51 was the equivalent power in s.43 of the DPA 1998; that reflects the deliberate consistency of framing Parliament has adopted.