Information Commissioner's Office

Department of Health

5 October 2017, Central government

The complainant made a freedom of information request to the Department of Health (DoH) for information related to meetings with Ian Cumming, the Chief Executive of Health Education England. The DoH disclosed some information falling within the scope of the request under but withheld some information under the section 35(1)(a) (policy formulation and development), section 35(1)(d) (operation of ministerial private office) and section 40(2) (personal information) exemptions. During the course of the investigation it disclosed some further information to the complainant and confirmed that rather than section 35, it was now seeking to rely on the section 36 (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs etc) exemption to withhold the remaining undisclosed information. The Commissioner has decided that the remaining withheld information is exempt under section 36(2)(b)(i) and (ii) and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure. The Commissioner also found that section 40(2) applies to the name and contact details of one individual named in the withheld information. The Commissioner requires no steps to be taken.

FOI 36: Not upheld FOI 40: Not upheld