Somerset NHS Primary Care Trust

The complainant has requested information about Somerset Primary Care Trust’s (“the Trust’s”) potential investigation into a complaint that was made about a named psychologist and any details of disciplinary action taken against them. The Trust applied section 40(2) to information explaining that the disclosure of the information would be unfair on the named individual. The complainant referred a complaint to the Information Commissioner (‘the Commissioner’). The Commissioner’s decision is that it was more appropriate to apply section 40(5) in this case and not confirm nor deny to the public whether any relevant recorded information was held. This is because even confirming or denying that information is held would be unfair to the named individual and would contravene the first data protection principle. No remedial steps are required.