Room 317 Richmond House    
  
79 
Whitehall 
 
 
 
London SW1A 2NL    
 
 
Telephone: 020 7210 5000 
 
 
Direct Line: 020 797210 5028 
  
Email: 
[email address]
 
DH case ref: 401847R 
 
 
 
 
 
25 June 2009 
Ms D. Speers 
 
[FOI #9551 email]
 
 
Dear Ms Speers 
 
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA): REQUEST FOR INTERNAL REVIEW DH 
CASE REF: 401847R 
 
Thank you for your email dated 18 May in which you requested an Internal review of 
your previous correspondence. I am sorry for the delay in responding. 
 
Your email dated 21 April set out: 
 
"It is the responsibility of NHS organisations to maintain this information and the 
Department does not routinely contact NHS organisations to investigate the accuracy of 
this information. Therefore the results cannot be relied upon as an accurate answer to 
your questions." 
 
The Department of Health responded on 18 May as follows: 
 
The Department of Health undertakes a validation process for information that is 
published or routinely made available to the public, such as the redundancy information 
published in the Quarter, as laid out in my email of 20 April (our ref: DE00000399627).   
 
 
The Department does not validate data that will not be routinely made available to the 
public because this would place an unnecessary and costly burden on NHS 
organisations and the Department. This includes data on ‘internal promotions’. 
 

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You wrote in response on 18 May requesting an Internal Review into the Department of 
Health’s handling of your FOI request “Management statistics of NHS and Foundation 
Trusts”.  You explained that “I remain concerned that whilst this information is very much 
a public concern, it appears " The Department does not validate data that will not be 
routinely made available to the public because this would place an unnecessary and 
costly burden on NHS     organisations and the Department. This includes data on 
‘internal promotions’ and I question why this information is not routinely made available 
to the public 
 
We have carefully considered your original request again. 
 
The Department of Health does not validate data that will not be routinely made 
available to the public or used for internal work because this will place an unnecessary 
and costly burden on NHS organisations and the Department. The Department is 
committed to minimising the number of data collections from NHS organisations, in line 
with wider Government policy on ‘reducing the burden’.  There is a need to balance the 
benefits gained from publishing information, such as that you requested, against the 
costs of collecting and validating the information, which uses up resources that could 
otherwise be focused on improving services for patients.   
 
The Review of Central Returns (ROCR) website provides information on this process 
(http://www.ic.nhs.uk/services/the-review-of-central-returns-rocr).  ROCR outline that 
information should normally be collected for, i) accountability to Parliament, ii) 
performance management of the NHS, and iii) informing policy developments.  
The Department is undertaking a project to review its information requirements and will 
certainly take your comments into account. 
 
The Internal review of your correspondence is now complete. 
 
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the 
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make 
a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the 
Department.  The ICO can be contacted at:  
   
Information Commissioner’s Office  
Wycliffe House  
Water Lane  
Wilmslow  
Cheshire  
SK9 5AF  
 
I hope you find this response helpful. 
 
Yours sincerely 
 
 
TONY DOOLE 
Senior Casework Manager 
Freedom of Information Team 
 

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