Strong public interest demands release of register

As the Information Commissioner, I ordered the Department of Health to release its Risk Register because of the very strong public interest in citizens knowing more about the proposed significant changes to the structure of the NHS. I felt that disclosing this information would help the public and Parliament understand what was being proposed and how the associated risks were being managed. This in turn would enable a better informed public debate about these important issues.

Decisions on disclosing politically sensitive information under the Freedom of Information Act are often challenging and sometimes controversial. Deciding where the public interest lies is not always easy, but that is the job Parliament has given me to do, applying the various exemptions allowed under the Act.

Essentially, there are two competing views. On the one hand, you can say that the government is elected to make difficult decisions on how public services should be delivered and how public money can best be spent. Civil servants are paid to advise them and put their policies into practice. They should all be able to get on with the job without having to be subject to close scrutiny by the press, public or political opponents. There has to be a safe space for the development of policy. That's a perfectly valid approach. In many cases my office upholds decisions to withhold information. But it has to depend on the circumstances.

On the other hand it can be argued that disclosing sensitive but important information for wider scrutiny can help the decision-making process. By enabling more people to express their views on proposals, the final decision will be better informed and better understood. Where proposals are particularly contentious and with far-reaching consequences, it's better for more information to be available for a broader discussion about the pros and cons before everything's decided. Again, the strength of that argument depends on the circumstances. For the Department of Health's risk register, my office decided that this latter argument prevailed.

The pros and cons are rarely black and white. There are often strong arguments both for disclosing and for withholding sensitive information about controversial policy issues which have yet to be finally decided, as in this case. Legal appeals against the ICO's decisions can be made to the Information Rights Tribunal. The Department of Health's appeal in this case is due to be heard on 6 March.