[ RadSafe ] RE FOI and data supporting epidemiological studies

[James Salsman]

> The Sunday Herald reports 2nd October 2005
> 
> http://www.sundayherald.com/52028
> 
> THE Scottish Information Commissioner, Kevin Dunion, is being taken to
> court by the National Health Service in an attempt to keep controversial
> cancer statistics secret. This is the first legal challenge to Dunion,
> who has been overseeing the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act since it
> came into force at the beginning of the year....
>
> In January, Chris Ballance, the Green MSP for the South of Scotland,
> asked the NHS Common Services Agency (CSA) to provide the annual
> incidence of childhood leukaemia in every Census ward in Dumfries and
> Galloway from 1990 to 2003....

How many people are in a U.K. Census ward?  Is the problem that some
of the wards have only one or a few people in them?

I look forward to learning the opinions of the following ministers 
overseeing the NHS and officials on the question of what size of 
aggregation granularity is necessary to protect privacy in 
epidemiological studies:

The Right Honorable Jane Kennedy, MP, Minister of State for Quality 
and Patient Safety

Professor Sue Hill, Chief Scientific Officer

The Right Honorable Patricia Hewitt, MP, Secretary of State for Health

Professor Mike Richards, National Cancer Director

Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer

I trust that the U.K. press will not miss this opportunity to learn 
what these responsible officials think about this first attempt to 
limit their new freedom of information law.

Sincerely,
James Salsman