Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will (a) publish a list of the freedom of information requests relating to the proposed Holocaust Memorial and associated learning centre that (i) his Department has not yet responded to and (ii) are waiting for adjudication by the Information Commissioner and (b) order his Department to release all the information requested.
No Freedom of Information requests relating to the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre are awaiting a response from the Department. A letter from the Information Commissioner about the Department’s handling of a previous request was received on 18 January 2024 and will receive a response shortly.
A great deal of information about the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre has been published as part of the planning application. When Freedom of Information requests have sought information which falls within statutory exemptions, careful consideration is given and the appropriate public interest tests are applied. Some material requested by Doran Gerhold in December 2018 was withheld on this basis: the Information Commissioner and the First Tier Tribunal have each, twice, upheld the Department’s approach.