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     Considerations                 
 

Public Interest Test

There is a considerable difference between what is in the public interest, and what the public are interested in. The official view is that there is likely to be a public interest in disclosing information where this would: 

• help the public debate the of issues of the day;
• help the public understand the decisions we take;
• help the public understand how public money is spent;
• help individuals to understand our decisions and in some cases, assist individuals in challenging those decisions;
• bring to light information affecting public safety.

The public interest test must be considered separately in relation to the duty to confirm or deny and the duty to communicate the information. There may be circumstances where we can confirm or deny the existence of information even though the information itself is to be withheld.

In applying the public interest test, we should also bear in mind the following: 

• the fact that the information is technical, complex to understand and may be misunderstood may not of itself be a reason to withhold information;
• if the information is misleading because it is incomplete, it might not be in the public interest to disclose it;
• the fact that information may cause embarrassment or loss of confidence is not necessarily a reason to withhold information;
• if the proper functioning of the public authority will be adversely affected by disclosure, for example by discouraging openness in expressing opinions, then that might be a reason for refusing a request;

the fact that the same information has not been released previously does not automatically mean that it should be refused in the future. In other words, circumstances may change.

There may be several different pieces of information contained in one document to which a qualified exemption may apply. We cannot apply the public interest test to one fact in a document and use this as a justification for withholding the full document. We should always disclose as much as we can.

Prejudice Test (the test of harm)

Finally, a qualified exemption must also pass the prejudice test, where we must consider if the confirmation or denial of information would damage an individual. Where we withhold information on this basis, there must be a real risk that the interest protected by the exemption would be prejudiced by the disclosure. That is, someone would suffer loss, distress or harassment if the information were made public.

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Last modified: 08/31/11