Information Commissioner's Office

Wye Valley NHS Trust

23 September 2015, Local government (Borough council)

The complainant has requested information from Wye Valley NHS Trust (‘the Trust’) about the legal and contractual basis for agreements reached with Mercia Healthcare. The Trust has applied the exemptions under section 36(2)(c) (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs) and section 41 (information provided in confidence) to the only information that it says that it holds and which is relevant to the complainant’s request. The Commissioner’s decision is that: The Trust has identified all the information that it holds within the scope of the complainant’s request. The Trust has incorrectly applied section 36 to this information. The Trust has correctly applied section 41 to a small amount of the information but incorrectly applied this exemption to the remainder. The Commissioner also considers that the Trust did not fully meet its obligations under section 17(1). The Commissioner requires the Trust to disclose all the information it has withheld under section 36(2)(c) and section 41, having redacted the small amount of information that is exempt under section 41 as identified in the confidential annex. The public authority must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.

FOI 17: Upheld FOI 36: Upheld FOI 41: Upheld