Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, when and for what reason her Department adopted a policy of rating Freedom of Information requests red, amber or green according to the presentational risks of disclosure; and which Minister or official is responsible for the introduction of that policy.
The Department’s internal Freedom of Information (FOI) case management system, which includes a colour-coding system, was introduced by officials in 2019. It is used to track timeliness and progress of responses in addition to the sensitivity of the information in all FOI cases. The Department’s case management system helps evidence our compliance with our FOI obligations.