Department of Health and Social Care

The complainant has requested correspondence relating to compensation payments for victims of infected blood. The above public authority on sections 28 (internal relations), 31 (law enforcement), 35 (formulation of government policy) and 42 (legal professional privilege) of FOIA to withhold the requested information. The Commissioner’s decision is that: section 42 is engaged and the balance of the public interest favours maintaining this exemption; section 35 is also engaged. The balance of the public interest favours disclosure of most of the information, but there is some information where the balance of the public interest favours maintaining the exemption; neither section 28 nor 31 is engaged. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: disclose the information specified in the confidential annex with appropriate redactions to protect personal data. Information Tribunal FTT EA/2023/0422 appeal allowed in part.