The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
156.
The MOD issued
revised instructions for the disclosure of BOI reports in
May.95
The
instructions advised that following the full implementation of the
FOI Act on
1 January
2005, the current policy (of limited release of BOI reports outside
the MOD)
was no
longer sustainable; the underlying principle of the FOI Act was
that information
should be
available to members of the public on request unless it had an
absolute
exemption
or there was an overriding public interest in withholding
it.
157.
The way in
which BOIs were conducted would not change, but the reports
should
now be
prepared in two parts:
•
Part 1,
which would be generally known as the “BOI Report”, should include
the
convening
order, terms of reference, findings, recommendations, and
comments
from senior
officers. It should be carefully structured to ensure that it
contained
no exempt
material or, if that was not possible, suitably
redacted.
•
Part 2
would include all other supporting documentation including
witness
statements
and police and investigative reports.
158.
There would
also be a separate master “Schedule of Proceedings”,
listing
everything
that constituted the full BOI Report.
159.
Part 1 of the
full BOI Report would be proactively published by the MOD
under
their
Publication Scheme. Requests for further information would be
considered under
the FOI Act
in the normal way. Applicants could be provided with the Schedule
of
Proceedings
to help them refine their request.
160.
Next of kin
should, in the first instance, be given only Part 1 of a BOI
Report.
Requests
for information from Part 2 would be treated in the same way as
other FOI
requests
(although it would normally be inappropriate to redact
non‑sensitive personal
information
about the family member). The instructions stated:
“Although
this may be seen as restricting what is given to next of kin, it
should
be borne in
mind that Part 1 ... will be a synthesis of all the relevant
information
presented
to the Board. Although the next of kin should always be treated in
a
sympathetic
and helpful manner, the provisions of the FOI Act and DPA98
and
other
relevant legislation and common law must be observed.”
161.
Coroners would
“continue to be provided with the full unredacted copy of the
report
(Parts 1
and 2)”, on the understanding that the report contained only
information owned
by the UK
and was not quoted from or admitted into evidence without further
reference
to the
MOD.
162.
The
instructions directed that where names were redacted, they should
be
replaced by
a unique identifier.
95
Defence
Instructions and Notices, May 2007, ‘Disclosure of Board of Inquiry
Reports, 2007DIN02‑15’.
106