Infected Blood Inquiry Notice

The request was partially successful.

Dear Commission on Human Medicines,

Under FOI I am requesting the following information:

a) Have you received any notice or instruction not to destroy documentation or files which may be relevant to the Infected Blood Inquiry from any source?

b) If so, from whom the notice was received and on what date it was received.

Yours faithfully,

JJ Evans

MHRA Customer Services, Commission on Human Medicines

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MHRA Customer Services, Commission on Human Medicines

2 Attachments

Our Ref: FOI 18/575

Dear Mr Evans,

RE: REQUEST UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

Thank you for your enquiry below and attached which we received on 22 October 2018.

I confirm that your three email requests below and attached is being treated under one FOI request and is being handled under the Freedom of Information Act and you should receive a reply within 20 working days from our date of receipt.

If you need to contact us again about this request, please quote the reference number above.

Kind Regards,

Customer Services
Communications division
Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency
10 South Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London E14 4PU
Telephone: 020 3080 6000
Email: [Commission on Human Medicines request email]
Stay connected: mhra.gov.uk/stayconnected

show quoted sections

FOILicensing, Commission on Human Medicines

Reference: FOI 18/575

Dear Mr Evans,

Thank you for your three emails of 21 October where you asked:

"Have you received any notice or instruction not to destroy documentation
or files which may be relevant to the Infected Blood Inquiry from any
source? If so, from whom the notice was received and on what date it was
received."

"Please supply copies of all Factor VIII Product License Applications
received in 1984 & 1985."

"Please supply copies of all Factor VIII Product License Applications
received in 1973,1974,1975 & 1976."

We confirm that the "notice or instruction not to destroy documentation or
files which may be relevant to the Infected Blood Inquiry from any source"
was received by MHRA on 18 December 2017 from the Department of Health
(DoH). The identity of the person at DoH who sent this instruction would
be exempt under Section 38 and Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information
(FOI) Act (Health & Safety and Personal Information). Section 40(2) is an
absolute exemption and so no consideration of the public interest is
required. The application of Section 38 is conditional on the public
interest in release not outweighing the consideration to keep this
information withheld. We have considered the public interest, particularly
in regards to the current inquiry. However, we cannot see any public
interest argument that outweighs the harm that can be caused to an
individual and their wellbeing from harassment that can come from pressure
groups if this information was released into the public domain.

Regarding the remaining parts of your request, which asked for all Factor
VIII applications received between specific timepoints (1973,1974,1975 &
1976 and 1984 & 1985), the licence applications for the years in the
attached emails, would be exempt under Section 12 of the FOIA
(unreasonable use of resources).

Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides that public
authorities are not required to comply with requests that they judge to
constitute an excessive use of their resources. We consider that this
provision applies in this instance. To meet your request it would be
necessary to locate a large number of files and to identify material that
may be exempted from disclosure under the FOIA. The resource required to
do this work exceeds the relevant limit in the FOIA of £600, calculated at
£25 per hour. When calculating the costs of complying, the organisation
can aggregate (total) the costs of all related requests received within 60
working days from the same person, or from people who seem to be working
together[1]. If you wish to reduce your request to a single date range of
two years e.g. 1972 - 1973, or 1984 - 1985. We estimate that the time
taken to conduct the search would then fall below the cost limit.

If you disagree with how we have interpreted the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 with regards to your request, you can ask for the decision to be
reviewed. The review will be carried out by a senior member of the Agency
who was not involved with the original decision.

The Freedom of Information Act only entitles you to access to information
– the information supplied is subject to Crown copyright, and there are
some restrictions on its re-use. For information on the reproduction or
re-use of MHRA information, please visit
[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio....

If you have a query about the information provided, please reply to this
email.

Yours sincerely,

Medical Writer,

FOI Licensing Team

 1. When can we refuse a request on the grounds of cost?
[2]https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/gui...

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FOILicensing, Commission on Human Medicines

3 Attachments

  • Attachment

    RE FOI 18 575 Freedom of Information request Infected Blood Inquiry Notice.html

    10K Download

  • Attachment

    RE Freedom of Information request Infected Blood Inquiry Notice.txt

    5K Download View as HTML

  • Attachment

    FOI 18 618.html

    2K Download

Dear JJ Evans,

Our response to FOI 18/575 was sent on 19 November 2018 to the following e-mail address: [FOI #527740 email].

Please find a copy of our response attached for your reference.

We sent also sent a further copy of our response on 20 November 2018 (attached); could there be an issue with the temporary e-mail address system?

I have noted that there was also a follow-up to this request FOI 18/618, where you asked for copies of "all Factor VIII Product License Applications received in 1975 & 1976". Our response to this request was sent 13 December 2018, also attached for your convenience.

Please kindly confirm receipt of this e-mail and those attached,

Yours sincerely,

Medical Writer,

FOI Licensing Team

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