The complainant alleged that the Privy Council Office (PCO) did not conduct a reasonable search in response to an access request under the Access to Information Act for records contained in Ops 3 and Ops 4 files.

The allegation falls within paragraph 30(1)(a) of the Act.

The investigation determined that the Offices of Primary Interest did not retrieve all relevant records when they were tasked to do so. PCO was unable to show that it conducted a reasonable search for all of the records responsive to the access request. The Office of the Information Commissioner asked PCO to conduct a subsequent search for all relevant records. As a result, 251 pages of responsive records were identified.

The Information Commissioner ordered that PCO provide a subsequent response to the access request by December 22, 2024.

PCO gave notice to the Commissioner that it would be implementing the order.

The complaint is well founded.