Author: samuelwillis

Walawalkar v Information Commissioner and Maritime and Coastguard Agency [2025] UKUT 105 (AAC) (Upper Tribunal Judge Wright)

Posted on | by samuelwillis

The case is of interest for the Upper Tribunal’s construction of section 11(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”).

The appeal concerned a request for information that was held in audio form by the second respondent, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (the “MCA”). The appellant, Mr Walawalkar, on behalf of Liberty Investigates, requested distress calls made to the coastguard over a period of a week from people in the English Channel. Mr Walawalkar requested that the calls be provided in transcribed form if the audio calls could not be disclosed.

Section 11(1) FOIA provides as follows:

(1) Where, on making his request for information, the applicant expresses a preference for communication by any one or more of the following means, namely–

(a) the provision to the applicant of a copy of the information in permanent form or in another form acceptable to the applicant,

(b) the provision to the applicant of a reasonable opportunity to inspect a record containing the information, and

(c) the provision to the applicant of a digest or summary of the information in permanent form or in another form acceptable to the applicant,

the public authority shall so far as reasonably practicable give effect to that preference (emphasis added).

The key question in this appeal was whether the “so far as reasonably practicable” test in section 11(1) FOIA is an “all or nothing” test or a “sliding scale”. Continue reading →

“What’s the Deal?” Corporate Sponsorship and FOIA 2000 – Garrard v Information Commissioner and British Museum

Posted on | by samuelwillis

The General Regulatory Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal has made a substitute decision in the case Garrard v Information Commissioner and the British Museum [2024] UKFTT 601 (GRC). The Appellant, Dr Christopher Garrard, was successful in part. The reasons will be of interest to those seeking to use information law to access corporate sponsorship arrangements between public institutions and fossil fuel companies, and to those seeking to resist such efforts.

The appeal concerned Dr Garrard’s request to the British Museum in 2022 for information relating to sponsorship negotiations between the British Museum and BP. Dr Garrard challenged the British Museum’s reliance on the commercial interests exemption under section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. He argued that the exemption was not engaged and, even if it was, the public interest was weighted in favour of disclosure. Continue reading →