30 July 2007, Health (NHS)
The complainant sought disclosure of the geographic telephone numbers for NHS Direct. NHS Direct refused to disclose the information on the basis that it was exempt by virtue of section 22 (future publication), section 38 (health and safety) and section 44 (prohibition on disclosure).Following correspondence with the Commissioner it withdrew the application of section 44. Having considered the complaint the Commissioner decided that the information was not exempt under section 22. However he decided that section 38 was engaged and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosure. The Commissioner also concluded that the public authority had breached section 1 of the Act by incorrectly claiming the information was not held and that it had breached the requirements of section 17 of the Act by failing to issue an adequate refusal notice. An appeal was made to the Information Tribunal, but the appeal was dismissed.
FOI 1: Upheld