Appendix A – Public Interest Test
Exemptions applied to: Witness statements or notes taken by the officers who
compiled the official report relating to the Cathedral Yard Fire issued by Devon and
Somerset Fire and Rescue Service.
Exemption No. Name
Section 36: Prejudice to the effective conduct of Public Affairs
Factors for disclosure
Factors for withholding
• There has been criticism expressed by • Disclosure would inhibit firefighters
a few individuals and reported in the
in providing a free and frank
media that the ‘whole picture’ relating
exchange of views as part of
to this incident was not being made
debriefs following an incident, which
available.
would have a significant adverse
• Non-disclosure could increase the
impact on the Service’s ability to
opinion of a few individuals that the
develop operational learning with
Service has something to hide.
consequential impacts on firefighter
safety and public safety.
• A great deal of additional information
used to compile the public report
• The Service has already published
produced by the Service would be
a report on this incident (available
available for scrutiny.
on the Service website) and has
published substantial information
about the incident on its website.
• Following suggestion by the
Service, the Ministry of Housing,
Communities and Local
Government commissioned and
published an independent ‘Fires of
Special Interest’ report (produced by
the Building Research
Establishment) in November 2018,
which looked at the fire spread from
No 18 (where the fire originated) to
the hotel. This report is also
available on the Service website
• At the request of the Service, an
independent review conducted on
behalf of the National Fire Chiefs
Council by West Midlands Fire
Service is looking at: the process of
compiling the report published by
the Service; the range of evidence
gathered to substantiate the report;
and whether any evidence
corroborates the public allegations
that the Command decisions
ignored information that may have
affected firefighting operations.
Further information wil be published
as a result of that review.
• The Terms of Reference for the
NFCC review is published on the
Service website.
Reasons why the public interest favours withholding information
• Safeguarding the effectiveness of the process for learning from operational
incidents is of critical importance in terms of firefighter and public safety and is
the primary consideration.
• Significant information about the incident is available on the Service website.
• A ‘Fires of Special Interest’ report has been published by the Ministry of Housing,
Communities and Local Government and is available on the Service website.
• The National Fire Chiefs Council has been asked to undertake an independent
review to examine issues surrounding the report published by the Service and the
public allegations about Command decisions. The terms of reference for this
review are published on the Service website.
• Further information wil be published as a result of the NFCC review.