Dear Richard,

I thought it might help if I gave you a more detailed explanation as to why these requests are dealt with under the FOI Act, rather than under other legislation.

Before the FOI Act was introduced, HSE developed, with the co-operation of the Law Society in England and Wales, a procedure for releasing certain information to parties voluntarily. This procedure, in general, allows us to release what we think a court would order us to release if an application for an order for disclosure was made.

The system requires that the applicant provide HSE with evidence that civil proceedings are underway and provide details of the case (claim form), and HSE would only voluntarily provide that (factual) information which is relevant to the case. Civil proceedings can be regarded as legally in being only after the claim form has been issued. Before the issue of a claim form there can be only prospective proceedings. This distinction is important as in some cases it determines what information can be released and/or when it can be released.

The procedure still operates, but unless an applicant asks for their request to be treated under the voluntary procedure (Civil Procedure Rules), HSE would treat it as an FOI request. When the FOI Act was first introduced, HSE did consider how best to handle civil disclosure requests (i.e. FOI or CPR). We consulted the Department for Constitutional Affairs (now the Ministry of Justice) and our own legal advisers, who agreed that if HSE received a request for information that we held, it would have to be treated as an FOI request, because the FOI Act is applicant-blind (the applicant doesn’t have to say why they want the information). As a consequence, it is much easier for applicants to request information regarding civil cases under the FOI Act, because they don’t have to provide evidence that proceedings are underway.

I hope that I have made things clearer, but please get back in touch if you have any further questions.

Kind regards

Steve Newman LLM, BSc (Hons) FOI Unit

Agree with comment about Scotland. If you want any assistance north of the border, please let me know.

In 2008, 87% of HSE’s FOI requests were handled by the Field Operations Directorate, mainly for information wanted by requestors for civil proceedings, usually with regard to an accident or incident at work. This type of request is not suitable for publication on the website, because they will contain personal information and will generally be of little interest to anyone not associated with the case.