Department of Health, R (on the application of) v Information Commissioner

Department of Health, R (on the application of) v Information Commissioner

The requested abortion statistics, as anonymised, do not constitute personal data under the DPA and FOIA because the public cannot identify individuals from the data, even if the Department of Health holds the underlying identifying information. The Tribunal was wrong in law to find otherwise, but was entitled to find that the risk of identification was extremely remote. Disclosure does not breach the data protection principles or Article 8 ECHR. The appeal is dismissed and the order for disclosure stands.

Parties
Claimant: Department of Health; Defendant: Information Commissioner
Jurisdiction
England and Wales
Judgment Date
20 April 2011
Procedural Posture
Judicial Review / Administrative Law / High Court Appeal From Information Tribunal
Outcome
Appeal dismissed
Legal Topics
Personal Data, Disclosure of Information, Statistical Anonymisation, Abortion Statistics, Data Protection Principles, Article 8 ECHR
Administrative Law Data Protection Law Freedom of Information Personal Data Disclosure of Information Statistical Anonymisation Abortion Statistics Data Protection Principles +1 more

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Parties

Department of Health

Claimant

Information Commissioner

Defendant

Procedural Posture

Judicial Review / Administrative Law / 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 2000
  2. 2 Whether disclosure of the statistics would breach the data protection principles or Article 8 ECHR
  3. 3 Whether the Information Tribunal erred in law in ordering disclosure

Ratio Decidendi

The requested abortion statistics, as anonymised, do not constitute personal data under the DPA and FOIA because the public cannot identify individuals from the data, even if the Department of Health holds the underlying identifying information. The Tribunal was wrong in law to find otherwise, but was entitled to find that the risk of identification was extremely remote. Disclosure does not breach the data protection principles or Article 8 ECHR. The appeal is dismissed and the order for disclosure stands.

Court Disposition

Appeal dismissed

Orders

  • Order for disclosure of the requested abortion statistics is upheld
  • No order as to costs