Allegations of sexual misconduct

The request was refused by North East London Commissioning Support Unit.

To whom it may concern,

1. For each of the last five calendar years, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, please state the number of allegations received of:
Sexual misconduct
Sexual harassment
Sexual assault
Rape

2. For each of the above allegations received, please state:
a) Whether the alleged victim was a member of the public, patient or health worker
b) Whether the alleged perpetrator was a member of the public, patient or health worker
c) Brief details of allegations
d) Outcome of case ie for instance if the alleged perpetrator was a member of staff were they cautioned, disciplined of sacked
e) Whether allegation was referred to police

3. For each of the last five calendar years, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, please state the number of allegations received where the alleged victim was under the age of 18 of:
a) Sexual misconduct
b) Sexual harassment
c) Sexual assault
d) Rape

4. For each of the above allegations received re alleged victims under 18, please state:
a) Whether the alleged victim was a member of the public, patient or health worker
b) Whether the alleged perpetrator was a member of the public, patient or health worker
c) Brief synopsis of allegations
d) Outcome of case ie for instance if the alleged perpetrator was a member of staff were they cautioned, disciplined of sacked
e) Whether allegation was referred to police

5. Please state the number of non disclosure agreements your organisation holds with current or former staff which involve or relate to sexual misconduct, sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape or other sexual offences. For each of these, please state the number and financial value of the settlements.

Please provide any official definitions your organisation uses to classify allegations of a sexual nature and any official guidance/flow charts for dealing with such cases.

Yours faithfully,

Leila Haddou

CONTACTUS, England (NHS ENGLAND), North East London Commissioning Support Unit

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FOI, England (NHS ENGLAND), North East London Commissioning Support Unit

Dear Leila Haddou,

 

Re:     Freedom of Information request (Our Ref: FOI-058649)

 

Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FOI) request dated 21 February
2019

 

Your exact request was:-

 

“1. For each of the last five calendar years, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and
2018, please state the number of allegations received of:

Sexual misconduct

Sexual harassment

Sexual assault

Rape

 

2. For each of the above allegations received, please state:

a) Whether the alleged victim was a member of the public, patient or
health worker

b) Whether the alleged perpetrator was a member of the public, patient or
health worker

c) Brief details of allegations

d) Outcome of case ie for instance if the alleged perpetrator was a member
of staff were they cautioned, disciplined of sacked

e) Whether allegation was referred to police

 

3. For each of the last five calendar years, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and
2018, please state the number of allegations received where the alleged
victim was under the age of 18 of:

a) Sexual misconduct

b) Sexual harassment

c) Sexual assault

d) Rape

 

4. For each of the above allegations received re alleged victims under 18,
please state:

a) Whether the alleged victim was a member of the public, patient or
health worker

b) Whether the alleged perpetrator was a member of the public, patient or
health worker

c) Brief synopsis of allegations

d) Outcome of case ie for instance if the alleged perpetrator was a member
of staff were they cautioned, disciplined of sacked

e) Whether allegation was referred to police

 

5. Please state the number of non disclosure agreements your organisation
holds with current or former staff which involve or relate to sexual
misconduct, sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape or other sexual
offences. For each of these, please state the number and  financial value
of the settlements.”

NHS England may hold some recorded information in relation to this
request.

 

It may help if we explain that the NHS in England is not a single
organisation but is made up of a range of organisations such as Hospitals,
Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and Ambulance Trusts. NHS England is
responsible for commissioning primary care services such as GP and dental
surgeries, as well as some specialised secondary care services. Therefore,
any recorded information NHS England may be able to provide in response to
an FOI request will generally relate to the services NHS England
commissions. For information on commissioned services and the types of
information NHS England holds can be found on our [1]website and
[2]publication scheme. For further information on the NHS, its structure
and other NHS organisations please refer to NHS Choices [3]here.

 

NHS England does not employ staff in a clinical capacity and as such from
an organisational level we will not hold information in relation to these
queries.

 

In relation to questions one and three, NHS England has access to the
Strategic Executive Information System (StEIS) which records serious
incidents and is managed by NHS Improvement.

 

[4]https://improvement.nhs.uk/resources/ste...

 

NHS England can report from StEIS however, we consider that to respond to
your request as it is currently framed would exceed the cost limit as set
out in Section 12(1) of the FOI Act. Section 12(1) states that a public
authority can refuse a request if complying with it would exceed the
appropriate limit of £450 (which represents 18 hours).  This represents
the estimated cost of one person spending this time in determining whether
the information is held, and locating, retrieving and extracting the
information. We have outlined reasoning for invoking Section 12(1) below.

 

To locate and retrieve the information you have requested would require
NHS England to review records from StEIS to establish which records are
relevant, followed by expert clinical review of open text fields with
incident description to establish whether cases related to the Freedom of
Information request.

 

For the purpose of this request an assessment was done of all entries on
StEIS between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2018. This process looked at
potential keywords that may relate to the topic, but would require
substantial, clinical review to confirm. Following this exercise NHS
England, can estimate that to respond to this request just for the period
1 January 2017 to 31 December 2018 would take over eighteen hours to
complete and this time would increase substantially when looking at the
entire requested period (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018).

 

Section 12(1) is an absolute exemption therefore we are not required to
assess the public interest test in its application.

 

However, if you were to refine your request for information within more
specific margins, for example; specific providers, then we may be able to
continue processing your request. Please note we cannot guarantee that
Section 12(1) or any other exemptions will not apply to any information
requested.

 

In relation to questions two and four, NHS England will not hold detail to
the level requested. This information may be held by individual providers
such as CCGs, NHS Trusts and GP practices and you may wish to redirect
this element of your query.

 

You can find Trust contact information on the NHS Choices website at the
following web link:

 

[5]https://www.nhs.uk/servicedirectories/pa...

 

You can find CCG contact information on the NHS Choices website at the
following web link:

 

[6]http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pag...

 

Copyright:- NHS England operates under the terms of the open government
licence. Please see the NHS England Terms and conditions on the following
link [7]http://www.england.nhs.uk/terms-and-cond...

 

We hope this information is helpful. However, if you are dissatisfied, you
have the right to ask for an internal review. This should be requested in
writing within two months of the date of this letter. Your correspondence
should be labelled “Internal Review” and should outline your concerns
and/or the area(s) you would like the review to consider. Internal Review
requests should be sent to:

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Email: [8][NELCSU request email]

 

Please quote the reference number FOI-058649 in any future communications.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) can be contacted at:

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Email: [9][email address]  

Website: [10]www.ico.org.uk

 

Please note there is no charge for making an appeal.

 

Please be aware that in line with the Information Commissioner’s directive
on the disclosure of information under the FOI Act, your request will be
anonymised and published on our website as part of our disclosure log.

 

Please do not reply to this email. This message has been sent from a
central mailbox. To communicate with NHS England regarding Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests, enquiries or complaints we ask these are sent
directly to NHS England’s customer contact centre. This is to ensure all
communications are progressed correctly. Their postal address, telephone
number and email details are as follows:- PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT;
0300 3 11 22 33, [11][NELCSU request email].

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Freedom of Information

Corporate Communications Team

Transformation and Corporate Operations Directorate

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Tel: 0300 311 22 33

Email: [12][NELCSU request email]

 

‘Health and high quality care for all, now and for future generations’

 

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