Mr X and Health Service Executive

• Court: Information Commission
• Judge: Stephen Rafferty, Senior Investigator
• Judgment Date: 11 May 2015
• Case Outcome: The Senior Investigator found that the HSE was justified in refusing access to the information sought under section 28(1) of the FOI Act. He affirmed the decision of the HSE.
• Record Number: 150026
• Respondent: Health Service Executive

Whether the HSE was justified in refusing the applicant access to interview score sheets and evaluation sheets for all candidates interviewed for a position in a Hospital under section 28(1) of the FOI Act on the basis that the information sought comprises personal information relating to the candidates

Conducted in accordance with section 34(2) of the FOI Act by Stephen Rafferty, Senior Investigator, who is authorised by the Information Commissioner to conduct this review

Background

On 10 July 2014, the Hospital received an FOI request from the applicant for the interview score sheets and evaluation sheets in respect of all candidates interviewed for a position in the Hospital in March 2014.

In its decision dated 15 October 2014, the HSE refused access to all records coming within the scope of the applicant's request, on the basis that they contained personal information of third parties. The applicant sought an internal review of this decision on 25 October 2014 and asked that any personal information of other candidates for the position be redacted. The initial decision of the HSE to refuse access to all relevant records under section 28(1) of the FOI Act was upheld in the internal review decision of 4 December 2014. On 26 January 2015, the applicant applied to this Office for a review of the HSE's decision.

In conducting this review I have had regard to correspondence between the applicant and the HSE, to the applicant's correspondence with this Office, and to the contents of the records at issue. The Hospital informed this Office that the applicant was provided with a copy of his own interview records.

In the interests of clarity, I should point out that this review was carried out under the provisions of the FOI Acts 1997-2003 notwithstanding the fact that the FOI Act 2014 has now been enacted. The transitional provisions in section 55 of the 2014 Act provide that any action commenced under the 1997 Act but not completed before the commencement of the 2014 Act shall continue to be performed and shall be completed as if the 1997 Act had not been repealed.

Scope of Review

The scope of this review is concerned solely with the question of whether the HSE was justified in refusing access to the interview score sheets and evaluation sheets for all other candidates in the relevant job competition on the basis that the information sought is exempt from release under section 28(1) of...