Information Commissioner's Office

Somerset NHS Primary Care Trust

26 February 2008, Health (NHS)

The complainant requested a copy of a contract agreed by the Somerset NHS Primary Care Trust for the provision of an independent treatment centre. He also requested other additional documents related to the treatment centre. The public authority refused to disclose some of the requested information on the basis of the exemptions contained in sections 41 (confidential information) and 43(2) (prejudice to commercial interests) of the Act. The Commissioner determined that some of the information contained in the contract, relating to how the service provider had calculated its prices, was exempt under section 41 and a limited amount of information in the additional documents was exempt under section 43(2), as it related to the public authority’s contract management strategy. He ordered the remainder of the information that had been withheld to be disclosed.

FOI 41: Partly upheld