The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust

The complainant has requested information relating to the funding that Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust) has received from the Home Office, for the provision of care to British children returning from Syria. The Trust has relied on section 24 of the FOIA (safeguarding national security) to withhold some of the requested information. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Trust has correctly engaged the provisions of the section 24 exemption, and that the public interest favours maintaining the exemption and withholding the requested information. However, the Commissioner has recorded a procedural breach of section 10 of the FOIA, as the Trust failed to respond to the complainant’s request within the statutory time limits. The Commissioner does not require the Trust to take any steps as a result of this decision notice.