Annex B – FOI18-2105 – Public Interest Test
Please also provide minutes of any meetings that HS2 Ltd have had
FOI8 2105:
in the last 12 months with Highways England regarding road user
disruption.
Date:
30 October 2018
EIR 2004 – Regulation 12(5)(a): Public Safety
Factors supporting disclosure
Factors supporting non-disclosure
The information contains the details of
access locations and their security at
construction sites. Disclosure could
make the sites targets for sabotage.
Compliance with FOIA and EIR
public authority obligations to
be transparent, to assist
Disclosure would not be in the public
information applicants with
interest in demonstrating accountability
their requests for information
for public spending, or shed light on the
and to release relevant
management of the infrastructure.
information to the public.
Disclosure would only contribute to
increasing knowledge of the specific
security measures and site access areas
General public interest in the
disclosure of information to
and put the public at risk of harm.
ensure transparency and
There is no foreseeable benefit to the
visibility of public bodies being
public in releasing the information. HS2
held to account regarding
Ltd considers that were this information
decisions made.
to be disclosed, the safety of staff
working at the sites as well as the public
could be endangered by increased risk
of criminal activity.
Health and safety is one of HS2 Ltd’s
intrinsic core values. One of our strategic
goals is to build a railway that is
designed, built and operated to the
highest health and safety standards. It is
not in the public interest to disclose
security and access details giving the
potential for harm.
Conclusion:
The decision to withhold the information under Regulation 12(5)(a) of the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 is upheld in light of the arguments against disclosure.
Disclosure of this information is likely to cause harm to HS2 Ltd’s security measures and
increase the risk of harm by malicious parties to HS2 staff and the public. The disclosure
of the access points and security details of the sites could adversely impact upon the
protection of the public from accident or the project from acts of sabotage. It could also
adversely affect the safety of the HS2 staff where the works take place.
For these reasons we believe regulation 12(5)(a) applies and the reasons against
disclosure outweigh the public interest in releasing the information.