Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust

The complainant has requested a variety of statistical information and information relating to his own care. The Commissioner’s decision is that Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust does not hold some of the information within the scope of the request. Where it does hold information, it is entitled to rely upon section 21 of FOIA in the manner it has done. The Trust is entitled to rely on section 12 to refuse some sections of the request, although it should have cited section 12(2) instead of section 12(1). The Trust is also entitled to rely on section 40(2) to withhold some of the information within scope – although the Commissioner notes that it ought, more properly, to have relied upon section 40(5) to refuse to confirm or deny holding some of the information. The Commissioner also finds that the Trust failed to identify all the information it held within the scope of the request and failed to issue a refusal notice citing all the exemptions on which it later came to rely within 20 working days. The Trust therefore breached sections 10 and 17 of the FOIA. The Commissioner does not require any further steps to be taken.