ICO Decision On Department Of Health

The Information Commissioner issued Decision 13/2025 regarding the Department of Health.

A spokesperson said, “On 2 May 2025, Information Commissioner Jason Outerbridge issued Decision 13/2025, Department of Health, which found that the Department failed to decide the Applicant’s request for an internal review on a PATI request, seeking correspondence about the importation of goods, within the 6-week statutory timeframe set by the Public Access to Information [PATI] Act 2010. The Information Commissioner has ordered the Department to issue an internal review decision to the Applicant on or before Friday, 30 May 2025.

“In ‘failure to decide’ cases, such as this, the Information Commissioner’s Decision does not address access to the public records being requested. Rather, it focuses purely on whether a public authority has responded to a request for access to public records within the statutory timeframe. The Information Commissioner’s decision and order, in such instances, allows the public authority the chance to make one final decision on granting or refusing access to public records that it holds—by way of an internal review by the head of the public authority.

“Once an internal review decision has been issued by the public authority, if a PATI requester is not satisfied with the authority’s response, they may seek an independent review by the Information Commissioner of the authority’s internal review decision. It is at that stage that the Commissioner will consider whether a public authority, such as the Department of Health, has properly decided that refusing access to public records is justified according to the PATI Act.”

The full version of Decision 13/2025 follows below [PDF here]:

#Health #PATI

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