Ofqual v Information Commissioner: [2023] UKUT 253 (AAC)

Upper Tribunal Administrative Appeals Chamber decision by Judge Jacobs on 13 October 2023.

• From: HM Courts & Tribunals Service and Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber)
• Published: 21 November 2023

• Categories: Information rights
• Sub-categories: Information rights - Freedom of information - public interest test
• Judges: Jacobs, E
• Decision date: 13 October 2023

Read the full decision in UA-2022-001549-GIA.

Judicial Summary

The tribunal decided that the First-tier Tribunal had not given adequate reasons for identifying the weight to be given to the public interest in disclosure of the information.

In giving directions for the rehearing, the Upper Tribunal decided:

First, Montague v Information Commissioner and the Department of International Trade [2022] UKUT 104 (AAC) applied. A public authority was not entitled to rely on information that was going to come into the public domain imminently following its refusal of the request.

Second, there was no precautionary approach that a tribunal had to apply when assessing evidence from a body that had access to information and expertise that the tribunal did not possess. The normal approach to assessing evidence applied.

Published 21 November 2023