Delayed discharge and cancer waiting times statistics documentation: FOI release

Information requested

The date when the Cabinet Secretary or his office were informed about the release of the delayed discharge and cancer waiting times statistics on June 24, and the date when he was given advance sight of these.

You also asked for documents to back this up. I have interpreted this question as asking about the first time that the Cabinet Secretary was informed about the delayed discharge and cancer waiting times publications.

Response

The Cabinet Secretary was informed of the publications, and provided with pre-release access to the statistics, on Thursday 19th June. This was provided as part of weekly statistics briefing to inform the Cabinet Secretary and Ministers of the key facts from the health and social care statistics publications being released the following week. Previously, the Cabinet Secretary was notified of the date of the Delayed Discharges publication on 30 May, as part of the monthly Forthcoming Publications report to Ministers.

I enclose a copy of the documentation informing the Cabinet Secretary of the release of the delayed discharge and cancer waiting times publications.

Exemptions under sections s.30(b)(i) (free and frank provision of advice) and s.38(1)(b) (personal data relating to third party) of FOISA apply to some of the information provided.

Exemption s.30(b)(i) applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the ability of officials to provide open and frank advice to Ministers. The exemption recognises the need for Ministers and officials to have a private space within which to openly discuss and explore policy options. Disclosing the content of open and frank advice to Ministers may inhibit such provision in the future.

In addition, on the same day Thursday 19th June, the Cabinet Secretary was informed of the Cancer Waiting Times publication in a separate briefing. This briefing has not been supplied as Exemption s.29(1)(a) applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, influence currently active policy development with regards to service delivery.

These exemptions are subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in releasing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in enabling officials and ministers to have free and frank discussions about policy options and service delivery.

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FOI 202500472837 - Information released - Documents

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