Information Commissioner's Office

Department of Health

21 January 2008, Central government

The complainant sought disclosure of a contract agreed by the Department of Health for the provision of an electronic recruitment service for the NHS. The public authority initially refused to disclose the contract on the basis of the exemptions contained in sections 41 (confidential information) and 43(2) (prejudice to commercial interests) of the Act. It subsequently also sought to rely on sections 43(1) (trade secrets) and 44 (prohibitions on disclosure). The Commissioner determined that none of the exemptions were applicable to the contract and ordered that it be disclosed to the complainant. He also found that the public authority had not complied with section 1 of the Act as, at the time of the request, it probably did not hold all of the contract and did not inform the complainant of this fact. In addition, it breached section 17(1)(b) and (c), as it failed to state in its refusal notice that sections 43(1) and 44 were applicable to the information requested nor explain why they applied.

FOI 1: Upheld