Employment History and Confirmation of Revalidation body
Dear General Medical Council,
Ref: Dr M S Alexander. GMC NO. 2377980
It has recently been determined that Dr Alexander must now practice under conditions.
Can you please confirm the following:
1. The reasons for placing this Doctor under these conditions
2. Who this doctor is registered with for his revalidation
3. The doctors employment history as an expert witness. in particularly the names of those who appointed him
Yours faithfully,
Mr Brooks
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Information access team
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Email: [GMC request email]
Telephone: 0161 923 6365
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Dear Mr Brooks,
Your information request - IR1-2591002885
Thank you for your email dated 17 January, in which you ask for the
reasons for Dr M S Alexander (2377980) conditions, who Dr Alexander is
registered with for his revalidation and his employment history as an
expert witness and who appointed him.
How we will consider your request
You’ve asked that we consider your request under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (FOIA). The FOIA gives us 20 working days to respond,
but we’ll come back to you as soon as we can.
Who to contact
Matt McCoig-Lees will be handling your request. If you have any questions
you can call him on 0161 923 6579 or email him at
[1][email address].
Yours sincerely
Lauren Barrowcliffe
Information Access Team Assistant
[2][email address]
0161 240 8356
General Medical Council
3 Hardman Street
Manchester
M3 3AW
Dear Mr Brooks
I write further to previous correspondence with a response under the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.
Firstly, in relation to question 2, I confirm that Dr Alexander (2377980)
is not currently connected to a Designated Body, which are the
organisations responsible for revalidation.
Secondly, I confirm that we hold information in relation to questions 1
and 3 but I consider that it is the confidential personal data of the
doctor and is exempt from disclosure. I’ve given details of the exemption
under the FOIA which applies below.
The exemption
Section 40(2), by virtue of section 40(3A)(a)
This exemption applies where the information is the personal data of a
third party and where releasing the information would breach any of the
principles relating to the processing of personal data listed at Article 5
of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In this instance
disclosure would breach the first principle, which requires the processing
of information to be lawful, fair and transparent. I do not believe that
any of the legal bases for processing listed at Article 6 of the GDPR are
met and therefore giving you the information would be unlawful.
Your Right to Appeal
If you would like to appeal this decision to an Information Access
Manager, please set out your reasons in writing by email to
[1][email address]. Please note that we will only usually consider appeals
received within 40 working days of our response. You can also appeal to
the Information Commissioner, the regulator of the FOIA and DPA.
---
Kind Regards
Matt
Matthew McCoig-Lees
Information Access Officer
Information Access Team
General Medical Council
3 Hardman Street
Manchester
M3 3AW
Email: [2][email address]
Website: [3]www.gmc-uk.org
Tel: 0161 923 6579
From: FOI
Sent: 20 January 2020 13:22
To: '[FOI #635568 email]'
<[FOI #635568 email]>
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - Employment History and
Confirmation of Revalidation body
Dear Mr Brooks,
Your information request - IR1-2591002885
Thank you for your email dated 17 January, in which you ask for the
reasons for Dr M S Alexander (2377980) conditions, who Dr Alexander is
registered with for his revalidation and his employment history as an
expert witness and who appointed him.
How we will consider your request
You’ve asked that we consider your request under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (FOIA). The FOIA gives us 20 working days to respond,
but we’ll come back to you as soon as we can.
Who to contact
Matt McCoig-Lees will be handling your request. If you have any questions
you can call him on 0161 923 6579 or email him at
[4][email address].
Yours sincerely
Lauren Barrowcliffe
Information Access Team Assistant
[5][email address]
0161 240 8356
General Medical Council
3 Hardman Street
Manchester
M3 3AW
Dear Matthew McCoig-Lees (0161 923 6579),
Thank you for taking the time to answer my previous call and to respond to my initial queries.
For the record your response was detailed and professional.
In relation to the responses to my original questions I would comment as follows.
Question 2.
Thank you for providing clarity
Question 1
I accept that providing the information in relation to to this question while Dr Alexander is still under review would be in breach of his personal data.
QUESTION 3
In relation to this question i fail to understand how it would be a breach of Dr Alexanders personal data to provide information in relation to the number of appointments and by whom, he has received in his role as an expert witness.
The reasoning being that in his CV Dr Alexander states a list of solicitors who he ‘claims’ have appointed him. However not the number of occasions.
Therefore in relation to question 3 can you please clarity and confirm the number of times the solicitors Sintons (and the in particular the solicitor Keith Land) has instructed Dr Alexander as an expert witness?
As previously i look forward to your prompt response.
Yours sincerely,
Stephen Brooks
Dear Mr Brooks
Thank you for your email, in which I note that you have asked me to
confirm ‘the number of times the solicitors Sintons (and the in particular
the solicitor Keith Land) has instructed Dr Alexander as an expert
witness.’
This question is essentially a slightly refined take on the third
question you asked on 17 January. The answer to your new question would
have been answered by answering the first to which I applied an exemption,
therefore I feel the corresct route to take this forward is by way of an
appeal of my original decision. If you would like to appeal, please
confirm this and I will have it set up for you.
However, I feel that I should explain that the GMC does not know every
location of every doctor who practices medicine in the country, let alone
the identities of legal professionals and their employers who may instruct
doctors from time to time. There are situations where doctors are
compelled to give us this information, for example upon the instigation of
an investigation, however they would only be obliged to tell us if they
were under active instruction at the time and not merely if they had been
previously instructed or were on a list of doctors who could be
instructed. We would be unlikely to ask legal practices how often they had
instructed an expert or who within the practice had made the instruction
unless there was a case specific reason to do so.
I hope this additional information is helpful.
---
Kind Regards
Matt
Matthew McCoig-Lees
Information Access Officer
Information Access Team
General Medical Council
3 Hardman Street
Manchester
M3 3AW
Email: [email address]
Website: www.gmc-uk.org
Tel: 0161 923 6579
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