Information Commissioner's Office

Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health

17 April 2007, Education (Other)

The complainant requested a copy of an internal report prepared by the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health following an investigation into the relationship between some NHS Patients’ Forum members and their support organisation. The request was initially refused under section 30 (investigations and proceedings conducted by public authorities). The public authority subsequently argued that the report was exempt under sections 31 (law enforcement) and 41 (information provided in confidence). The Commissioner has concluded that sections 31 and 41 were not applicable and that the report should be disclosed to the complainant. In addition, he decided that the public authority had breached section 17(1), as it failed to state in its refusal notice that sections 31 and 41 were applicable to the information, and section 17(7), as it failed to state in its refusal notice whether it had a procedure for dealing with complaints about the handling of requests for information.

FOI 17: Upheld