Lansley is told to release the secrets

Labour MP John Healey challenged the health secretary Andrew Lansley on 29 November 2010 to release the government’s risk assessments of their NHS reorganisation and health bill under FoI legislation [letter attached].



The Information Commissioner sent John Healey his decision on 2 November 2011, which requires the Department of Health to publish this information and confirms the government have broken the law in withholding it from the MP.


John Healey MP released the Commissioner’s decision today and said:


“The Government is forcing through the biggest reorganisation in NHS history and Andrew Lansley has spent the last year trying to keep the huge risks secret.


“The Information Commissioner now says the health secretary has broken the law in hiding the truth from the public. This is a landmark legal decision which confirms a million NHS staff and the public have a right to know the risks the Government is running with our NHS and what steps they’re taking to reduce the dangers.


“The year-long cover up is a disgrace, especially when doctors, nurses, patients groups and the public are all so worried about the Tories’ NHS plans.


“Confusion, incompetence and cover up have been the hallmarks of the Government’s handling of their huge NHS reorganisation. The Commissioner’s report is a demolition job of Lansley’s attempts to keep the truth from the public. The Department of Health has fought for a year to keep secret their own assessment of the dangers to the NHS and the Commissioner makes clear he’s had no truck with the Government’s attempts to keep the information hidden.
 
As we on here know already, the papers that will be released are not going to be full of any great secrets, but the "secret" they will reveal, is that no-one in the DOH has the slightest idea how all this will pan out, and that larges swathes of the paperwork will probably have "Not thought through yet" stamped all over them...
 
Now that might be considered to be a bit of a risk....