JSP 398 (August 2013 Edition) and JSP398 (March 2017 Edition)

Referred to ICO (09/06/2023)

Letter from ICO

...

16 June 2023
Dear Ceri Gibbons,
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)
Your complaint about: Ministry of Defence (“MOD”)
Their reference: FOI2023/03106
ICO case reference: IC-237671-Y7V0
Thank you for your complaint about the MOD’s delay in responding to
your request for information, dated 8 March 2023.
I have contacted the MOD and asked it to respond to your request within
10 working days.
I have also recorded this breach in our concerns trackers. We use
intelligence we gather from individual cases to inform our insight and
compliance function. This helps us meet the goal in our ‘Openness by
Design’ strategy to improve standards of accountability, openness and
transparency in a digital age. We aim to increase the impact of FOIA and
EIR enforcement activity by targeting public authorities’ systemic non-
compliance.
If you haven’t had a response in that time, please let us know by emailing
icocasework@ico.org.uk.
Please include your reference number in the subject title of your email.
If the MOD responds to your request and refuses to release the
information you have asked for and you are dissatisfied, you should
request an internal review.
Once you have exhausted the internal review procedure and if you don’t
agree with the outcome, you may submit a new complaint to us...

Yours sincerely,

Case Officer
Information Commissioner’s Office

Due to lack of response from MOD after 14 working days, this case is referred back to ICO (05/07/2023)

On 6 Juy 2023 the Information Commissioner issued a decision notice in this case.

...

Reference: IC-237671-Y7V0

Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)

Decision notice

Date: 6 July 2023
Public Authority: Ministry of Defence
Address: Whitehall
London
SW1A 2HB

Complainant: Ceri Gibbons

Decision (including any steps ordered)
1. The complainant requested information from the Ministry of Defence
(MOD) about historical editions of JSP 398. By the date of this notice the
MOD had not issued a substantive response to this request.
2. The Commissioner’s decision is that the MOD has failed to complete its
deliberations on the balance of the public interest within a reasonable
time and has therefore breached section 17(3) of FOIA.
3. The Commissioner requires the MOD to take the following step to ensure
compliance with the legislation.
• Having confirmed whether or not information is held within the
scope of the request: either disclose the requested information, if
held, or, to the extent that information is to be withheld, issue a
refusal notice in accordance with the requirements of section 17 of
the FOIA.

4. The MOD must take this step within 35 calendar days of the date of this
decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner
making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of FOIA and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.