The Information Commissioner upheld a complaint about the London Borough of Wandsworth’s reliance on section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act—the exemption for information intended for future publication.
What the Commissioner decided
For several parts of the request, information was not held when the request was received, so the claimed exemption could not apply. For other parts, the Council failed to engage the statutory requirement concerning an intention to publish. It was required to provide a fresh response and specified usage data.
Why this matters
“We intend to publish” is not a complete reason by itself. A refusal should identify the information held at the request date, explain the intention to publish and address the applicable statutory requirements.
Black Sheep evidence lesson
Break a multi-part FOI refusal into a schedule. For each numbered request record whether information was held, the exemption claimed, the supporting explanation and the response required. This prevents a general exemption from obscuring different defects across individual questions.