Information Commissioner's Office

Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust

2 November 2015, Health (NHS)

The complainant has requested information about two ‘clusters’ of deaths referred to in a particular Care Quality Commission report. Camden and Islington Foundation Trust (‘the Trust’) has refused to disclose the information, which it says is exempt under sections 40(2) (third person personal information) and section 41(1) (information provided in confidence). The Commissioner’s decision is that Camden and Islington Foundation Trust has breached section 1 and section 10 of the FOIA because it did not initially identify all the information that it holds that falls within the scope of the request. It therefore did not provide the complainant with a full response within 20 working days. The Commissioner has decided that the Trust correctly applied the exemption at section 41(1) of the FOIA to the majority of the requested information that it has now identified that it holds, and that the inherent public interest favours protecting the confidence. However, he considers that one element is not exempt under section 41(1) or section 40(2) and he requires the Trust to take the following step: Release the ‘Cluster Review Summary Analysis’ report to the complainant, having removed from it the information relating to serious injuries, which was not requested by the complainant. The public authority must take this step 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 1: Upheld FOI 10: Upheld FOI 40: Upheld FOI 41: Partly upheld