Department of Health and Social Care
- Date 16 January 2023
- Sector Central government
- Decision(s) FOI 27: Not upheld, FOI 38: Not upheld
The complainant submitted a request to the Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC) seeking an unredacted copy of parts of a Public Health England report into ‘Exercise Alice’ a hypothetical exercise about Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus conducted in 2016. DHSC argued that the redacted parts of the report were exempt from disclosure on the basis of sections 27(1)(a) (international relations) and 38(1)(b) (health and safety) of FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that DHSC can rely on the exemptions cited to withhold the redacted information.