Public Interest Test. A public interest can arise in a wide range of circumstances, for example to protect children from significant harm, protect adults from serious harm, promote the welfare of children or prevent crime and disorder. It is not possible to give guidance to cover every circumstance, however, the key factors in deciding whether or not to share confidential information are necessity and proportionality, i.e. whether the proposed sharing is likely to make an effective contribution to preventing the risk and whether the public interest in sharing information overrides the interest in maintaining confidentiality. Signatories understand the Public Interest Criteria to include:
Public Interest Test. Factors in favour of non-disclosure Whilst the HCA appreciates the factors above, we have in this case determined that disclosure would cause harm rather than just create a likelihood of harm. This strongly adds to the factors below of non-disclosure. The HCA needs to be mindful that such disclosures do not adversely affect our ability to achieve our operational objectives and discourage us and third parties to enter into contracts that may be tailor made for specific developments or developers. Disclosure of this information is likely to affect the commercial interests of third parties as it reveals financial and commercial information. Disclosure of this information would put them at a commercial disadvantage with both its competitors and also other financial institutions who they may wish to transact with in the future. Competitors could undermine their costs/ valuations etc. to win business. Similarly other parties entering into contracts/partnership with them could use financial information to negotiate costs which would be an unfair advantage to those parties. Disclosure of the withheld information would indicate the HCA’s commercial strategy to the world at large. This would include any interested parties that were seeking to transact with the HCA in the future and would therefore significantly damage the HCA’s commercial standing in seeking best value for money as well as hindering our ability to make the best decisions and achieve our operational objectives. It is not in the public interest to diminish a public authority’s ability to be competitive in a commercial market by releasing information as the result of an FOIA request when it is seeking to achieve best value for the public purse. We have, therefore, concluded that the balance of the public interest favours non-disclosure of this information at this time. We would, however, stress that the public interest is as ever changing concept and the arguments may change over time. If you have any questions regarding this response or any further queries you can contact us at the following addresses and quote your unique reference number found at the top of this letter: Email: xxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx Mail: Information Access Officer Homes and Communities Agency Fry Building 0 Xxxxxxx Xxxxxx Xxxxxx SW1P 4DF If you are unhappy with the way Homes and Communities Agency has handled your request you may ask for an internal review. You should contact Head of Legal Services Homes and Communities Age...
Public Interest Test. 5 The Legal Framework
Public Interest Test. When applying the test, the public authority is simply deciding whether in any particular case it serves the interests of the public better to withhold or to disclose information. Only those individuals who need access to service user/patient-identifiable information should have access to it. They should only have access to the information items that they need to see. This may mean introducing access controls or splitting information flows where one flow is used for several purposes. • Everyone with access to identifiable information must understand his or her responsibilities Action should be taken to ensure that those handling service user/ patient-identifiable information, both clinical and non-clinical staff, are made fully aware of their responsibilities and obligations to respect an individual’s confidentiality. • Understand and comply with the law Every use of service user or service user/ patient-identifiable information must be lawful. Someone in each organisation handling service user or patient information should be responsible for ensuring that the organisation complies with legal requirements. • The duty to share information can be as important as the duty to protect service user or patient confidentiality. For the purposes of direct care, relevant personal confidential data should be shared among the registered and regulated health and social care professionals who have a legitimate relationship with the individual.
Public Interest Test. When applying the test, the public authority is simply deciding whether in any particular case it serves the interests of the public better to withhold or to disclose information.
Public Interest Test. When applying the test, the GP is simply deciding whether in any particular case it serves the interests of the public better to withhold or to disclose information.
