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Details of conversations involving former prime minister Margaret Thatcher about the Hillsborough disaster are to be released more than two years after a freedom of information request was lodged.

The information commissioner Sir Christopher Graham has ruled that there was a public interest in the information being released after a request was made by the BBC in 2009, and that the public authority breached the Act in failing to respond within the set time period.

Graham accused the authority of an "excessive delay" in responding to the original request on 23 April 2009, which asked for copies of all briefings and other information provided to Thatcher in 1989 in relation to the football stadium disaster, as well as minutes of all related meetings attended by her.

There was a delay of more than nine months before the authority responded "substantively" to the request, which was to deny it under a series of exemptions.

Now the information commissioner has ruled that the public interest favours disclosure of the information, and as a result the Cabinet Office is required to release it.

According to the BBC, the government has either 28 days to appeal or 35 days to release the material.

The Cabinet Office said it is currently considering the Information Commissioner's report.

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Written by
Rachel McAthy

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