FOIA Update - Act Now

Speaker: Naomi Matthews

FOI practitioners need to keep up to date with the latest ICO decisions and Tribunal appeals.

The course will cover the most significant FOI decisions issued in the past 12 months which include:

- Department for Business and Trade v Information Commissioner and Montague [2023] EWCA Civ 1378. This Appeal considers whether multiple exemptions can be aggregated together for the public interest test when raised by the Public Authority in respect of a single piece of information. It also looks at the public interest timing issue. The Appeal also explores whether the public interest should be considered at the time of the request or at the time of the internal review.

- Moss v Royal Borough of Kingston-upon Thames and Information Commissioner [2023] EWCA Civ 1438. This Appeal looks at whether the First Tier Tribunal has the power to commit a person for contempt in the event of a failure to comply with one of its orders.

FOI practitioners need to keep up to date with the latest ICO decisions and Tribunal appeals and how they impact on their day-to-day work.

In this practical workshop, our FOI expert will dissect significant ICO and Tribunal decisions issued during the preceding 12 months. This is an advanced level workshop suitable for experienced FOI practitioners and others with a good working knowledge of the legislation.

By the end of the workshop you will have gained an understanding of the latest FOI decisions, how case law is evolving and the latest developments in the way exemptions, public interest test and procedural requirements are being interpreted.

The exact content of this workshop is dependent on the decisions that have been issued during the preceding 12 month period but typically it will cover the topics set out below.

Key Topics

• Update on topical cases in 2023 and 2024 including: Department for Business and Trade v Information Commissioner and Montague
• Moss v Royal Borough of Kingston-upon Thames and Information Commissioner
• Section 43(2) (commercial interest) cases
• Section 36 (public affairs) cases
• The relationship between FOI and GDPR
• Latest ICO enforcement action
• Expansion of FOI
• Reflections and horizon scanning
• Case studies