21. In summary, therefore, the Tribunal’s remit for the purposes of the appeal was to consider whether the Decision Notice was in accordance with the law. In reaching its decision, the Tribunal may review any findings of fact on which the Decision Notice was based and the Tribunal may come to a different decision regarding those facts. Essentially, the Tribunal is empowered to undertake a ‘full merits review’ of the appeal before it (so far as the Decision Notice is concerned). Mode of hearing 22. The parties consented to the appeal being determined by the Tribunal without an oral hearing. 23. The Tribunal considered that the appeal was suitable for determination on the papers in accordance with Rule 32 of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (General Regulatory Chamber) Rules 2009 and was satisfied that it was fair and just to conduct the appeal in this way. The evidence and submissions 24. The Tribunal read and took account of an open bundle of evidence and pleadings, as well as a closed bundle. The closed bundle contained the Requested Information which had been withheld by the Authority, as well as unredacted aspects of the Commissioner’s response to the appeal and the Authority’s reply which had been redacted in the open bundle. 25. All of the contents of the bundles (including the parties’ submissions) were taken into account, even if not directly referred to in this decision. The relevant statutory framework1 and legal principles General principles 26. Section 1(1) provides individuals with a general right of access to information held by public authorities. It provides: “Any person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled— (a) to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds information of the description specified in the request, and (b) if that is the case, to have that information communicated to him.”. 27. In essence, under section 1(1), a person who has requested information from a public authority is entitled to be informed in writing whether it holds that information. If the public authority does hold the requested information, that person is entitled to have that information communicated to them. However, those entitlements are subject to the other provisions of FOIA, including some exemptions and qualifications which may apply even if the requested information is held by the public authority. Section 1(2) provides: “Subsection (1) has effect subject to the following provisions of this section and to the provisions of sections 2, 9, 12 and 14.”. 28. Accordingly, section 1(1) does not provide an unconditional right to be told whether or not a public authority holds any information, nor an unconditional right of access to any 1 We acknowledge the Practice Direction dated 4 June 2024 (https://www.judiciary.uk/guidance-and-resources/practicedirection-from-the-senior-president-of-tribunals-reasons-for-decisions/) and particularly paragraph 9, which refers to the First-tier Tribunal not needing to specifically refer to relevant authorities. We include references to the applicable legislative framework, to provide relevant context, but have accordingly not set out details of the applicable case law. 5