PO-4652-I

The appellant submitted a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act) for the calendar of the former Executive Director of Stakeholder Relations in the Premier’s Office for the period from June 1 to December 31, 2022. Cabinet Office located responsive records in the individual’s government Outlook calendar and granted the appellant partial access to them.
The appellant appealed Cabinet Office’s decision, claiming that it did not conduct a reasonable search because it ought to have also searched the individual’s personal calendar. In this interim order, the adjudicator finds the individual’s personal calendar as a whole is not within the scope of the appellant’s request and upholds Cabinet Office’s decision not to search it.
However, the adjudicator finds Cabinet Office’s search of the individual’s government Outlook calendar was not reasonable because it did not provide sufficient evidence to support its claim that the entries marked “Private” in the individual’s government Outlook calendar were, in fact, private or personal in nature. The adjudicator orders Cabinet Office to obtain a sworn affidavit from the individual confirming the nature of the calendar entries marked “Private” in their government Outlook calendar. If any of the specific entries marked “Private” are found to relate to government business, the adjudicator orders Cabinet Office to require the affected party to search their personal calendar for any corresponding entries and provide any such records to Cabinet Office so it can render a revised access decision.