Information Commissioner orders publication of NHS strategy report

The Case for Change report, by Prof Marcus Longley, was launched as an independent review into hospital reform.

But emails released later showed him asking civil servants for ‘killer facts' to support the case for changes, leading to claims that the review would lack impartiality.

It was published in May 2012, containing a warning that some services were in danger of collapse.

Ministers said the report, commissioned by the NHS Confederation, supported the case for changes to hospitals.

A political row then broke out over bias allegations, in which Prof Longley denied he had “colluded or connived” with civil servants.

Information Commissioner Christopher Graham said there was a “strong public interest in revealing draft positions so that the public is given a fully informed picture of the decision or policy-making process promoting transparency and accountability in relation to the activities of public authorities”.