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Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust

Volume 487: debated on Tuesday 10 February 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library a copy of the report to his Department from PricewaterhouseCoopers on the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. (254152)

A copy of the report has been placed in the Library, Some details in the report have been redacted where the following conditions of the Freedom of Information Act apply;

(1) Section 36(2)(b) and (c)—where disclosure of the information would inhibit the free and frank provision of advice, or the free and frank exchange of views, for the purposes of deliberation, or would otherwise prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs. Section 36 is statutory recognition of the public interest in allowing government to have a clear space, immune from exposure to public view, in which it can debate matters internally with candour and free from the pressures of public political debate. Ministers and Government officials need to be able to engage in free and frank discussion of policy options to expose their merits and demerits, and their possible implications. Their candour in doing so will be affected by their assessment of whether the content of such discussion will be disclosed in the future.

(2) Section 41(1)—where the information in the report was received by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in confidence. Disclosure of this information would make it less likely that this type of information is provided freely to the Department in the future, and consequently undermine the ability of the Department to fulfil its role. The provider(s) of that information are content that some of this information can be disclosed. The limited amount to which this does not apply has been redacted.

(3) Section 43(2)—where the information in the report is commercially sensitive, and its disclosure has the potential to damage the trust’s commercial interests. The report includes information from the trust’s long term financial model (LTFM) that includes detailed information about future income and expenditure. Release of this information is likely to prejudice the trust’s commercial interests by adversely affecting its position in contractual negotiations and commercial transactions.