Recurrent: Ministry of Labor and Social Economy

Recurred resolution: R/0242/2024

In exercise of the right of access to public information, a request was submitted to the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy for access to the number of complaints received at the Labour Inspectorate, and the sanctions imposed, to penitentiary institutions or to companies that carry out work programmes in penitentiary centres, from 2001 to the current year.

The requested Ministry issued a resolution in which it agreed to deny the requested access on the basis of the confidentiality of the information handled by officials of the Labour and Social Security Inspection System, in accordance with the provisions of article 14.1.e) and j) LTAIBG. It also invokes the cause of non-admission provided for in Article 18.1.c) LTAIBG, considering that a prior reprocessing action is necessary to grant access to the request.

The Claimant Foundation, after clarifying that its request refers only to statistical data, limits it to the period between January 1, 2020 and September 1, 2023, eliminating from the request the data referring to the Autonomous Communities of Catalonia and the Basque Country.

The Council estimates the claim as the alleged limits are not considered applicable. With regard to the alleged confidentiality of the information, the Council considers that the provisions relating to the duty to reserve that affects the staff of the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate do not imply that access to the information can not be requested by this means. In this sense, it is necessary to differentiate between the duty of secrecy imposed on public employees regarding the disclosure of the information they know in the exercise of their functions, and the characterization as confidential of the information itself.

Furthermore, the Council also does not consider that the need to carry out a prior reprocessing exercise has been justified, without giving sufficient proof to the generic statement that in order to obtain the requested information, it is necessary to carry out a large number of consultations that must also be carried out to different administrative units and bodies, and this especially after the submission made by the claimant foundation.