Written question asked by Jon Trickett (Labour) on Tuesday, 1 November 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 3 November 2011. It was answered by David Lidington (Conservative) on Wednesday, 9 November 2011 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Departmental Freedom of Information

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which Minister in his Department is responsible for determining whether exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 should apply to responses to requests for information under the Act; and which other Minister is responsible for making such determinations should the subject matter of the request fall within the ministerial responsibilities of the Minister with lead responsibility.

Answer: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests are usually dealt with by the lead Policy Department, with the assistance of the Information Rights Team which specialises in the handling of FOIA requests. As the Policy Department has responsibility for the reply, if a request needs to be referred to a Minister, it will usually be to the Minister who has responsibility for that Department.

Secondary information