The Department had altered the way it reported the incidence of late abortions so as to protect the identities of those involved. It said that the numbers were so small that any detail could lead to identification.
Held: (1) The disputed information constituted personal data in the hands of the Department of Health.
(2) That the disclosure would not contravene the data protection principles, and consequently the Department of Health was wrong to rely on Section 40 of FOIA to withhold the disputed information.
(3) The Information Commissioner was right to find that disclosure would not be in breach of the Abortion Regulations, and therefore Section 44 of the FOIA was not engaged, and
(4) By failing to disclose the disputed information, the Department of Health had breached Section 1 of FOIA.
Citations:
[2009] UKFTT EA – 2008 – 0074 (GRC)
Links:
Statutes:
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Department of Health, Regina (on The Application of) v Information Commissioner Admn 20-Apr-2011
The department appealed against an order requiring it to disclose statistical information about late abortions. The department argued that the numbers involved were such that the individual patients involved mighty be identified, and that therefore . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Information
Updated: 20 December 2022; Ref: scu.428743
