大象传媒

The 大象传媒 Trust has today published the minutes of the Board of Governors' meeting held on 28th January 2004, which took place after publication of the Hutton Report.

The minutes have until now been withheld by the 大象传媒 under section 36 of the Freedom of Information Act.

In its decision dated 8th January 2007, the Information Tribunal accepted that the Board of Governors' minutes of 28th January 2004 were capable of protection under section 36 but, when balanced against the public interest, favour lies in disclosure.

In addition, the 大象传媒 Trust has decided to publish the minutes of the Board of Governors' meeting held on 5th February 2004 covering matters relating to the Hutton Report. These minutes were not part of the FOI appeal process and are disclosed by the Trust voluntarily.

The minutes can be downloaded below.

Ends

Notes to editors

Requesters were notified on 17 March 2005 of the 大象传媒's decision to withhold the minutes of the Board of Governors' meeting of 28th January 2004 under section 36 of the FOI.

The Information Commissioner upheld the 大象传媒's decision to withhold under section 36 on 15th February 2006.

An Information Tribunal Hearing chaired by Andrew Bartlett QC published its decision, to overturn the 大象传媒 Board of Governors' and the Information Commissioner's previous decisions, on 10th January 2007. The hearing was held on 20th December 2006.

Section 36 exemption from the Freedom of Information Act relates to the effective conduct of public affairs. Section 36(2)(b)(ii) says that information can be exempt from disclosure if, in the reasonable opinion of the public authority concerned disclosure of the information would, or would be likely to, inhibit the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation.