http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/2/2003-01-01Freedom of Information Act 2000An Act to make provision for the disclosure of information held by public authorities or by persons providing services for them and to amend the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Public Records Act 1958; and for connected purposes.texttext/xmlenStatute Law Database2026-04-092003-01-01 Part I21Where any provision of Part II states that the duty to confirm or deny does not arise in relation to any information, the effect of the provision is that where either—athe provision confers absolute exemption, orbin all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exclusion of the duty to confirm or deny outweighs the public interest in disclosing whether the public authority holds the information,section 1(1)(a) does not apply.2In respect of any information which is exempt information by virtue of any provision of Part II, section 1(1)(b) does not apply if or to the extent that—athe information is exempt information by virtue of a provision conferring absolute exemption, orbin all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.3For the purposes of this section, the following provisions of Part II (and no others) are to be regarded as conferring absolute exemption—asection 21,bsection 23,csection 32,dsection 34,esection 36 so far as relating to information held by the House of Commons or the House of Lords,fin section 40—isubsection (1), andiisubsection (2) so far as relating to cases where the first condition referred to in that subsection is satisfied by virtue of subsection (3)(a)(i) or (b) of that section,gsection 41, andhsection 44.