Dear Sir or Madam,

Could you please provide me with copies of the communications (eg letters or presentations) from the Home Office Identity Cards Unit (now incorporated into the Identity and Passport Service) about what they saw as the appropriate relationship between the Home Office National ID Scheme and the Department of Health's NHS National Programme for IT (now known as Connecting for Health).

I believe proposals were made around 2005 or 2006 and my understanding is that DoH declined to make such links.

Yours faithfully,

William Heath

Our ref: DE00000284182

28 March 2008
Dear Mr Heath,

Thank you for your email requesting, under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, copies of communications between the Department of
Health and the Home Office about the relationship between the National
Programme for Information Technology and the National Identity Register.
Your request was received on 27 February and it has been passed to me for
reply.

I can confirm that the Department does not hold any information of the
nature you have requested. It may help if I explain that there are no
plans to disclose NHS patient information to the National Identity
Register, and no plans for physical or electronic linkage between what
would be two completely separate systems.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision,
you should write to the Section Head of the Department’s Freedom of
Information Unit at the following address:

Freedom of Information Unit
Department of Health
Room 334b
Skipton House
80 London Road
SE1 6LH

Email: [email address]

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner (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:

The Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Craig
Department of Health
Room 317
79 Whitehall
London SW1A 2NS

show quoted sections

Dear Stuart Craig

RE: "Communications between the Department of Health and the Home Office about the relationship between the National Programme for Information Technology and the National Identity Register"
---------------------

Thank you for looking into this and for sending me a holding response within the statutory timeframe.

When you say you "confirm that the Department does not hold any information of the nature you have requested" s it possible that you are mistaken? The IPS web site says http://www.idealgovernment.com/index.php...
“At the moment the Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Education and Skills and the Department of Health are all considering how best to use ID cards.”

Officials in DoH have spoken to us of robust discussions between DoH CfH and the Home Office about what the relationship between the CfH computerised health records and the Home Office IPS ID System hsould be.

I cannot say just what specific document or documents (eg emails, presentation slides, repots) this information is contained in it is abundantly clear there have been such communications. It would be very surprising if there were no record of this.

Even if the outcome of the discussions is, as you say, that there are "no plans to disclose NHS patient information to the National Identity Register, and no plans for physical or electronic linkage between what would be two completely separate systems" my request is for the communications (emails, presentatins or reports) that led to that point.

[I'd like to understand the rationale for how the IPS ID plan was developed, and also the likelihood of how they will evolve together in practice. I wonder, for example, whether NHS staff will be statutorily forbidden from recording the NIRN on the NHS system, should a person show an ID card in the course of seeking treatment or healthcare.]

I do not accept therefore that what you have sent so far is a substantive response to my original request. Is it possible, do you think, for your section head to review this decision and have a more thorough and informative response sent?

Many thanks for your help

Yours sincerely,

William Heath

Dear Stuart

Sorry - that link should read

http://www.ips.gov.uk/identity/faqs-gene...

Yours sincerely

William

[Subject only] Acknowledgement of case DE00000295781 received by the Department of Health.

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Dear Mr Heath,

Thank you for your email requesting a review of the above case. The review
is underway and we will respond to you within 20 working days.

Yours sincerely

Sarah Otto
Freedom of Information Unit
Information Services
 E-mail: [email address]
Address: Department of Health | Room 334B Skipton House | 80 London Road |
London SE1 6LH

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Sarah Otto
Freedom of Information Unit
Department of Health
Room 334B
Skipton House
80 London Road
London SE1 6LH

Dear Sarah

You promised me a reply by now (and my original request was made in February). I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

William Heath

Dear Sara

You promised to reply to me about this. Your reply was due under the FoI Act by 28 March.

It is quite clear to me there was a substantial exchange between the Home Office, proposing links between the ID System and Connecting for Health, and DoH which appears successfully to have resisted such a link. I would be very grateful if you could send me this full exchange - letters, emails, presentations, internal memos and reports - without further delay.

Many thanks

William Heath

Dear Mr Heath,

I am very sorry for the delay in replying to your request for an internal
review of our handling of your previous Freedom of Information request (our
ref: DE284182).

The Department is reconsidering its intial response and making a thorough
search for the information you are seeking.

We will endeavour to reply as soon as possible. If there are likely to be
any further delays, I will keep you informed.

Stephen Fay
Freedom of Information Unit
Information Services

Direct Line: 020 7972
GTN Tel: 396 2