Request for copy of a floorplan of the Supreme Court building received 17 March 2021
Request received on 17 March 2021:
Please can you release a map of the floor plan of your building?
Response sent on 23 March 2021:
Please find attached a copy of our visitor leaflet . This leaflet includes a map of the public side of the UK Supreme Court building.
Follow-up response received on 23 March 2021:
Thank you for providing a map of the public side of the UK Supreme Court building
, but that isn't actually what I requested. Could you provide what I requested please.
Response sent on 14 April 2021
Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
As you may be aware, there are several exemptions contained within the FOIA. Having assessed your request, we have decided to withhold the information you requested under section 38b of the FOIA. Section 38 states that we are not obliged to provide information if its release may endanger the physical or mental health of any individual, or endanger the safety of any individual.
In line with the terms of this exemption, we have considered whether it would be in the public interest for us to provide you with a map of the floor plan of the UK Supreme Court building, despite the exemption being applicable, for reasons of transparency. It was decided that because the release of this information would reveal sensitive details such as the locations of justices' offices, the security control room and plant rooms, this may put the safety of the justices, Court staff and members of the public at risk, and as such this outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.
This is the reason we initially gave you the map of the public side of the building.
You can find more information about the section 38 exemption via this link: ICO Health and Safety (Section 38).