Information Commissioner's Office

NHS Improvement

10 January 2017, Health (NHS)

In a three part request, the complainant has requested information about a report into Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust.  NHS Improvement (NHSI) released information with regard to the first two parts.  It refused to comply with the third part of the request under section 12(1) of the FOIA; it said to do so would exceed the appropriate cost limit. The Commissioner’s decision is that: NHSI is correct to apply section 12(1) to part 3 of the request. NHSI breached section 16(1) of the FOIA as it did not give the complainant adequate advice and assistance with regard to this part of the request at the time it responded to the request. The complainant has now received advice as to how part 3 of the request might be refined and he has the option of submitting a new request to NHSI if he so wishes. As a result, the Commissioner does not require NHSI to take any steps.

FOI 12: Not upheld FOI 16: Upheld