Information Commissioner's Office

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

11 July 2017, Education (Other)

The complainant has requested information relating to meeting minutes. The Commissioner’s decision is that Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (‘PHSO’) have correctly applied section 36(2)(b)(ii) (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs) to part of the withheld information. However the Commissioner also finds that PHSO has incorrectly applied section 40(2) (personal data) to the remaining part of the withheld information. Finally, the Commissioner finds that although it has complied with section 17(1) in stating which exemption is to be relied upon, by failing to complete its public interest test considerations within a reasonable time period PHSO has breached section 17(3) of the FOIA. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. Disclose the information withheld under section 40(2) of the FOIA. 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 36: Not upheld FOI 40: Upheld FOI 10: Upheld