Contents of diary can be revealed

THE GOVERNMENT has failed in a Court of Appeal bid to block disclosure of the contents of a diary kept by former Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.

The ground-breaking case marks the first time the courts have considered the public right to see entries contained in a ministerial diary under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Transparency campaigners say the case is of importance because the diary covers the time Mr Lansley was working on the Health and Social Care Act and allegedly subjected to extensive lobbying by private healthcare interests.

A journalist, Simon Lewis, made a request to the Department of Health (DH) under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) to see diary contents for the period May 12, 2010 to April 30, 2011.

Only a redacted version was produced but in March 2013 the Information Commissioner required the department to disclose the majority of the withheld information. The Government has now lost a series of legal challenges to the commissioner’s decision, ending in a unanimous three-judge appeal ruling on Wednesday in favour of disclosure. It was handed down by Sir Terence Etherton, Master of the Rolls, sitting with Lady Justice Black and Lord Justice Davis.

In the lead ruling, Sir Terence said the FOIA created a general right of access to information held by public authorities but allowed for exemptions from disclosure. The Government attacked a decision of the FTT – the First-tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber – Information Rights) allowing disclosure of the Lansley diary which was upheld by the Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber).