The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

This decision notice refers to a subject matter – the Lucy Letby case - that some readers may find distressing. In a four part request, the complainant asked the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (‘the Trust’) for information about staffing levels and for an email sent by Dr Ravi Jayaram. The Trust refused to provide the information, relying on sections 31(1)(a), (b), (c) and 31(1)(g) of FOIA, which relate to law enforcement.In its final position, the Trust said it could release some aggregate information, and other information, relevant to requests 1, 2 and 3. It said that section 40(2) (personal data) applied to parts of requests 1 and 3, and that section 12 (cost of compliance) also applied to request 2. However, the Trust continued to maintain its reliance on the four section 31 exemptions for the information it continues to withhold. The Commissioner has decided that sections 31(1)(a), 31(1)(b) and 31(1)(c) of FOIA were correctly applied to the withheld information across the four requests. No further action is required from the Trust. Information Tribunal FT/EA/2026/0059 under appeal.