Govt House ‘Complied In Part & Failed In Part’
The Information Commissioner issued her latest decision related to a request to Government House for records relating to the recruitment and appointment of the Director of Public Prosecutions in 2013 and 2015, a time frame that Rory Field served as the DPP.
The Information Commissioner found that “Government House complied in part, and failed to comply in part, with Part 3 of the PATI Act 2010 in responding to the Applicant’s PATI request.”
Government House is required to “grant access to the records in full or in part as directed in Appendix 1 and the Confidential Annex to this Decision and the accompanying Order on or before 7 March 2019.”
Page from the Decision:
A spokesperson said, “Information Commissioner Gitanjali Gutierrez issued Decision 02/2019. This decision concerns records related to the recruitment and appointment of the Director of Public Prosecutions [DPP] in 2013 and 2015.
“The Office of the Governor, known as Government House, provided access to some of the records and denied access to the remainder of the records under multiple exemptions.
“In Decision 02/2019, the Information Commissioner has found that the PATI Act did not apply to certain records because section 4 of the PATI Act took the records out of the scope of the Act’s application.
“The Information Commissioner has also found that Government House justified its reliance on the exemptions for personal information [section 23[1]], deliberations of public authorities [section 29[1]], and the Governor’s communications [section 33[1][b]] to deny the public access to some of the records, or part of the records.
“Finally, the Information Commissioner has found that Government House did not justify its reliance on the exemptions for personal information, information given in confidence [section 26[1][a]], the Governor’s responsibilities [section 33[1][a]], or the Governor’s communications to deny access to the remainder of the records or part of the records.
“The Information Commissioner requires Government House to disclose some of the records or parts of the records, as outlined in Decision 02/2019.”
The full Decision Notice follows below [PDF here]:
