Information Commissioner's Office

Dicconson Group Practice

17 August 2015, Health (Other)

The complainant has requested information about meeting minutes from Dicconson Group Practice (‘the Practice’).  The Practice initially refused to comply with the request saying that it was vexatious under section 14(1) of the FOIA.  During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation, the Practice released the information. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Practice breached section 1 (right of access), section 10 (time for compliance) and section 17 (refusal of request). The Practice has now provided the requested information to the complainant and the Commissioner does not require the Practice to take any further steps. The Commissioner notes that the medical practice itself is not a public authority for the purposes of the FOIA. Rather, each GP within the practice is a separate legal person and therefore each is a separate public authority. The Commissioner acknowledges that when an applicant makes a freedom of information request to a medical practice it is reasonable to expect for convenience that the practice will act as the single point of contact.  However, each GP has a duty under section 1 of the FOIA to confirm or deny whether information is held and then to provide the requested information to the applicant, subject to the application of any exemptions.  For ease and clarity, this notice refers to the Practice where appropriate in detailing the correspondence and analysis that has taken place.

FOI 1: Upheld FOI 10: Upheld FOI 17: Upheld