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David Behan "We've commissioned a review of that legal advice to see if we can put this information into the public domain"
England's NHS regulator will name some officials accused of covering up a failure to investigate deaths of babies at a Cumbria hospital, ministers say.
Pressure is mounting on the Care Quality Commission to name managers who apparently blocked publication of a critical report.
The Information Commissioner said the Data Protection Act does not overide public interest in releasing the names.
The CQC said no decision had yet been formally reached.
However it has said it is exploring all legal means possible to see if names can be made public.
Senior managers are currently meeting to discuss the issue.
However, Health Minister Lord Howe said those involved will be named.
Speaking in the House of Lords, he said his "understanding" was that the CQC would reveal the identities of some of the officials involved later on Thursday.
However, the CQC said no official decision has yet been made.
Before the meeting, CQC chief executive David Behan confirmed he was reviewing legal advice not to reveal the names of those involved.
It follows growing pressure to publicly name those involved.
Information Commissioner Christopher Graham told the BBC that senior managers could not "hide behind the Data Protection Act".
'Deliberate cover-up'More than 30 families have taken legal action against the hospital in relation to baby and maternal deaths and injuries from 2008.
Consultants Grant Thornton were asked by the health regulator to investigate its own failure to spot the problems: in 2010, Morecambe Bay NHS Trust, which ran the hospital, had been given a clean bill of health.
How inspection regime has improved
The Care Quality Commission has been quick to point out that its inspections haves been improved. But what does this mean in practice?
Over the last two years more than 200 extra inspectors have been taken on, bringing the total close to 1,000.
These include people with a background of working in hospitals, care homes and other health settings as well as people from other professions, such as the police, who have an expertise in investigations.
The inspection teams are made up of people from these different backgrounds.
There is also a network of 200 external experts, such as surgeons, senior nurses and pharmacists who are on hand to lend specialist advice and help when needed.
Grant Thornton found that, a year after this, with more concerns emerging, an internal review had been ordered into how the problems had gone unnoticed.
In March 2012 it was decided the findings should not be made public because the review was highly critical of the regulator.
That order is said to have come from a senior manager who has not been named and who denies the allegations.
The latest report said this "might well have constituted a deliberate cover-up".
On Wednesday, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said that was "completely unacceptable" and that there should be "no anonymity, no hiding place, no opportunity to get off Scot-free for anyone at all who was responsible for this".
Information Commissioner Mr Graham told BBC Breakfast: "What appeared to be going on yesterday was a sort of general duck-out saying 'oh, data protection, sorry can't help you' - that's all too common and in this case it certainly looked as if data protection really wasn't the issue."
He said he could not order the CQC to reverse its decision but said he was glad it was looking at the issue.
"So far as the Data Protection Act is concerned, we all have a right to the protection of our personal privacy but if you are a senior official then there are issues about the point at which your privacy is set aside because of over-riding public interest. That's really the issue at stake here," he said.
'Good faith'Its chief executive, Mr Behan, said he had been advised that "to put people's personal data [into the report] would be a breach of their rights".
"I was acting on the legal advice I was given, I acted in good faith," he told Newsnight.
He said he had "listened to what the information commissioner has said".
He added: "We've decided today that we will review that legal advice and we've commissioned a review of that legal advice to see if we can put this information into the public domain."
Data protection laws
The 1998 Data Protection Act details how personal information is used by organisations, businesses and government.
It demands that information is used fairly and legally, is accurate, used for specifically stated purposes and is kept secure.
There have been numerous occasions where data protection has been wrongly cited as a reason something should not happen.
In 2010 the Information Commissioner was forced to warn schools that they could not use it to ban parents from taking pictures of their children in nativity plays.
Its use by police as a defence for not sharing information about Soham killer Ian Huntley was also described as wrong.
In this case the application of the law hangs on whether the public interest outweighs the expectation that actions in a private meeting should not lead to an individual being named.
In a statement to the House of Commons on Wednesday, Jeremy Hunt said the CQC was already introducing a tougher inspection regime and had just appointed a chief inspector of hospitals.
He added: "What happened at Morecambe Bay is, above, all a terrible personal tragedy for all the families involved.
"I want to apologise on behalf of the government and the NHS for all the appalling suffering they have endured."
The CQC has said it is "desperately sorry this has happened" and said publication "draws a line in the sand for us".
The publication of Wednesday's report comes four months after a public inquiry into the failings at another hospital - Stafford - criticised the culture of the NHS as more concerned with protecting "corporate self-interest" than patient care.
Mr Hunt told MPs the government was introducing measures to make the NHS more transparent, including a duty of candour to compel the health service to be open and honest about mistakes.
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