Reference Case Number: FOI11421
Freedom of Information: Right to know request:
Thank you for your email of 5 June 2024, in which you asked:
‘I am writing in regard to a Freedom of Information request that I wish to submit, namely related to meetings held in the last five months with senior figures from the Labour Party, including the likes of Rachel Reeves and Darren Jones, two senior figures in the shadow treasury.
Could I please request the following: the dates of these meetings, where they occurred and the details/content/minutes of them.’
On 27 June 2024, you provided further details on the scope of your request and explained that the information you are seeking is:
‘Senior figures including Rachel Reeves and Darren Jones, as well as other people from the party's shadow treasury team, including Tulip Siddiq.’
FCA response:
Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) you were issued a refusal notice on 25 July 2024. In respect of the information you requested, the refusal notice explained the information was exempt from disclosure under section 36, a qualified exemption and more time was needed to consider the public interest test. This exercise has now been completed and this email constitutes the second formal refusal notice in response to your request.
The information we can provide to you is set out in the attached document (Annex A).
In respect of the remainder of the information, we are exempted from providing some of it to you because section 36 (prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs) of FOIA applies.
This is because, for the reasons set out in Annex B below, we are of the view that disclosing this information would be likely to restrict the free and frank exchange of views when considering issues.
In addition, some of the information within scope also contains the personal information of individuals other than yourself, where we consider disclosure would not be in accordance with the UK GDPR. We are therefore exempted from disclosing it to you under section 40 (Personal information) of FOIA.
For more information on why we are applying the above exemptions, please see Annex B below.