Information Commissioner's Office

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust

17 April 2007, Health (NHS)

The complainant, and his wife, requested information about a doctor who had previously worked for the public authority. Specifically he asked whether the doctor had been carrying out a six monthly rotation as part of her training for General Practice, whilst working in Huddersfield Royal Infirmary’s Haematology Department in 2003. The public authority refused to provide this information, claiming that the information was exempt from disclosure under section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the FOI Act”). The public authority confirmed to the Commissioner that it believed the release of this information would be in breach of the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). After considering the submissions of both parties the Commissioner concluded that the release of this information would not be a breach of the DPA, and that therefore section 40(2) was not engaged. The Commissioner also decided that the public authority was in breach of section 17, as the initial refusal notice was inadequate. Consequently, the complaint was upheld.

FOI 17: Upheld