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| Health body to reveal key papers | |
| (about 7 hours later) | |
| NHS Lothian has been ordered to disclose full details of the £184m contract to build and run the new Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. | NHS Lothian has been ordered to disclose full details of the £184m contract to build and run the new Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. |
| The Scottish Information Commissioner rejected NHS Lothian's claim the details were confidential. | The Scottish Information Commissioner rejected NHS Lothian's claim the details were confidential. |
| Commissioner Kevin Dunion said the health board had "omitted" 5,000 pages of information to a Freedom of Information request. | Commissioner Kevin Dunion said the health board had "omitted" 5,000 pages of information to a Freedom of Information request. |
| The health board said it would seek to comply with the order. | |
| The hospital was financed through the Private Finance Initiative. | The hospital was financed through the Private Finance Initiative. |
| Mr Dunion also said the board had incorrectly claimed the cost of providing the information would be excessive. | Mr Dunion also said the board had incorrectly claimed the cost of providing the information would be excessive. |
| NHS Lothian provided me with virtually no arguments to justify withholding the contract Kevin DunionScottish Information Commissioner | NHS Lothian provided me with virtually no arguments to justify withholding the contract Kevin DunionScottish Information Commissioner |
| The hospital was built by the Consort Healthcare Consortium - made up of Balfour Beatty Construction, Morrison Development and The Royal Bank of Scotland. | The hospital was built by the Consort Healthcare Consortium - made up of Balfour Beatty Construction, Morrison Development and The Royal Bank of Scotland. |
| It officially opened in January 2003 and is rented back to NHS Lothian, which is charged for the running costs. | |
| NHS Lothian published some details of the £184m contract, but refused others on the grounds that they were commercially confidential. | |
| One campaigner, May Docherty, appealed against that to the commissioner. | One campaigner, May Docherty, appealed against that to the commissioner. |
| Mr Dunion said: "It is the responsibility of NHS Lothian to provide detailed justification for withholding the information requested. | Mr Dunion said: "It is the responsibility of NHS Lothian to provide detailed justification for withholding the information requested. |
| "In this case it sought to claim that a blanket exemption of confidentiality covered every one of the thousands of pages of this detailed contract. | "In this case it sought to claim that a blanket exemption of confidentiality covered every one of the thousands of pages of this detailed contract. |
| "However, other than broadly indicating why Consort Healthcare did not wish the information disclosed, NHS Lothian provided me with virtually no arguments to justify withholding the contract. | "However, other than broadly indicating why Consort Healthcare did not wish the information disclosed, NHS Lothian provided me with virtually no arguments to justify withholding the contract. |
| "As a consequence I have ordered that the contract must be disclosed." | "As a consequence I have ordered that the contract must be disclosed." |