NHS England

The complainant has requested information relating to a recruitment exercise to which they were an applicant. NHS England provided some of the information but withheld the remaining information citing section 40(1) and 40(2) of FOIA (personal information). NHS England went on to consider the parts of the information withheld under section 40(1) as a subject access request under the Data Protection Act. This part of the complainant’s request is not being contested. The Commissioner has considered NHS England’s application of section 40(2) and has decided that NHS England has correctly applied the exemption to withhold the information requested. The Commissioner has also decided that NHS England has breached section 10(1) of FOIA because it failed to provide a response to the complainant’s request within 20 working days. The Commissioner does not require further steps to be taken.