Department of Health, R (on the application of) v Information Commissioner [2011] EWHC 1430 (Admin) (20 April 2011)

Department of Health, R (on the application of) v Information Commissioner [2011] EWHC 1430 (Admin) (20 April 2011)

The requested abortion statistics, as proposed for disclosure, were sufficiently anonymised such that individuals could not be identified by the public, and therefore did not constitute personal data under the Data Protection Act 1998. The Tribunal erred in law in holding otherwise. Consequently, the exemption under section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 did not apply, and the Department of Health was required to disclose the statistics.

Citation
[2011] EWHC 1430 (Admin)
Parties
Claimant: Department of Health; Defendant: Information Commissioner
Jurisdiction
England and Wales
Judgment Date
20 April 2011
Procedural Posture
Judicial Review / Statutory Appeal / High Court Appeal From Information Tribunal
Outcome
Appeal dismissed
Legal Topics
Freedom of Information, Personal Data, Statistical Disclosure, Abortion Statistics, Data Protection Principles
Administrative Law Information Law Data Protection Freedom of Information Personal Data Statistical Disclosure Abortion Statistics Data Protection Principles

Case Brief

Summary, issues, holding and outcome

More case intelligence is available

Unlock the full research layer for this judgment.

Full judgment text Downloadable case file Legal principles 4 Authorities cited 10 Party arguments 2
Sign in to unlock

Parties

Department of Health

Claimant

Information Commissioner

Defendant

Procedural Posture

Judicial Review / Statutory Appeal / High Court Appeal From Information Tribunal

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether the requested abortion statistics constitute personal data under the Data Protection Act 1998 and FOIA
  2. 2 Whether disclosure of the statistics would breach the data protection principles
  3. 3 Whether the risk of identification from the statistics is sufficient to engage exemptions under FOIA

Ratio Decidendi

The requested abortion statistics, as proposed for disclosure, were sufficiently anonymised such that individuals could not be identified by the public, and therefore did not constitute personal data under the Data Protection Act 1998. The Tribunal erred in law in holding otherwise. Consequently, the exemption under section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 did not apply, and the Department of Health was required to disclose the statistics.

Court Disposition

Appeal dismissed

Orders

  • Department of Health required to disclose the requested abortion statistics at the level of detail previously published by the ONS.