The Information Commissioner has ruled HMRC ‘is entitled to withhold some of the requested correspondence between its senior officials about the loan charge policy under section 36(2)(b) of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) as disclosing it would be likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs’.

The Freedom of Information (FOI) request wanted to see all email correspondence between top HMRC officials containing references to Amyas Morse, who had conducted a detailed review into the impact of the loan charge and use of disguised remuneration schemes. The information request related to an 11-day period in November 2021, almost two years after the Morse report into the loan charge was published.