Statement by Dan Poulter

NHS England did not have the information requested.

Dear NHS England,

I made an FOI request to the Department of Health following a statement made by the Health Minister Dan Poulter MP. He gave a written answer to Rosie Cooper MP on 27 January in which he stated the following

"NHS England and the Health and Social Care Information Centre will work with the British Medical Association, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Information Commissioner's Office and with the Care Quality Commission to review and work with GP practices that have a high proportion of objections on a case-by-case basis."

The Department of Health told me that they held no information as they had used information provided by NHS England. On this basis, I am making the same request to you. I would like to request:

1) Information that would explain the relevance of the Information Commissioner to any assessment of high opt-out rates, given that the opt-out is acknowledged by both NHS England and the Information Commissioner’s Office to be irrelevant to care.data's compliance with the Data Protection Act.

2) Any communications between NHS England and the ICO on this matter (i.e. the assessment of opt-out rates, and not care.data altogether)

3) Any information about the possible role of the ICO used to formulate Dr Poulter’s written answer not included in the above questions

4) Any information held by NHS England that would describe what it - or others it has consulted - would consider to be a high opt-out rate

5) Any information held by NHS England that would describe what it - or others it has consulted - would consider to be a low opt-out rate”

Yours faithfully,

Tim Turner

Contactus England (HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE INFORMATION CENTRE), NHS England

Thank you for contacting NHS England.

 

Your Freedom of Information (FOI) request, which we received on 21
February 2014 has been allocated a reference number of SDR 215821.  Please
quote this reference in any further communication regarding this matter.

 

Your FOI request has been passed to the Case Management Team and a Case
Officer will acknowledge your request within two working days.  We will
respond to your FOI request within 20 working days in line with the FOI
Act 2000.

 

If you require any further information or wish to speak to someone about
your request, please contact NHS England at the email address and
telephone number shown below.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738 | Redditch | B97 9PT

0300 3 11 22 33

[email address]

www.england.nhs.uk

 

 

 

 

 

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FOI England (NHS ENGLAND), NHS England

Dear Mr Turner,

 

Our reference: SDR-215821 - Acknowledgement

 

Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FOI) request dated 21 February
2014.

 

Please be assured that your request is being dealt with under the terms of
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and will be answered within twenty
working days.

 

If you have any queries about this request or wish to contact us again,
please email [1][email address] and the message will be
forwarded appropriately. Please remember to quote the above reference
number in any future communications.

 

Please do not reply directly to this email. This message has been sent
from a central mailbox and incoming messages will not be received.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Michelle Butterworth

Freedom of Information

NHS England

 

Tel: 0300 311 2233

Email: [2][email address]

Website: [3]www.england.nhs.uk

Address: NHS England, PO Box 16738, REDDITCH, B97 9PT

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.england.nhs.uk/

FOI England (NHS ENGLAND), NHS England

Dear Mr Turner,

 

Re:       Freedom of Information request (Our Ref: SDR 215821)

 

Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FOI) request dated 21 February
2014.

 

Your exact request was:-

 

“I would like to request:

1.     Information that would explain the relevance of the Information
Commissioner to any assessment of high opt-out rates, given that the
opt-out is acknowledged by both NHS England and the Information
Commissioner’s Office to be irrelevant to care.data's compliance with the
Data Protection Act.

2.     Any communications between NHS England and the ICO on this matter
(i.e. the assessment of opt-out rates, and not care.data altogether)

3.     Any information about the possible role of the ICO used to
formulate Dr Poulter’s written answer not included in the above questions

4.     Any information held by NHS England that would describe what it -
or others it has consulted – would consider to be a high opt-out rate

5.     Any information held by NHS England that would describe what it -
or others it has consulted – would consider to be a low opt-out rate”

 

NHS England holds some information relevant to your request.

 

In response to Question 1, 2, 4 and 5, NHS England does not hold this
information.

 

In response to Question 3, please see below an extract of minutes from a
meeting held with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) on 5 December
2013:

 

1.     Bulk objections and unfair processing.

 

i.                A step-by-step plan was being put in place on how to
manage bulk objections from practices, which starts with constructive
engagement. NHS England confirmed no action would be taken until the data
are extracted.

ii.              The ICO had received a number of enquiries regarding bulk
objections from practices. Their view was that adding objection codes
would constitute processing of data in terms of the Data Protection Act. 
If objection codes had been added without writing to inform their patients
then the ICO's view was that this would be unfair processing and
technically a breach of the Act so action could be taken by the ICO.

iii.             The ICO would consider complaints, which could come from
a patient or a whistleblower. The ICO would consider each individual case
and take action accordingly.  This could include serving a stop order or
enforcement notice in the event of a breach

iv.             The ICO also advised that they would investigate a
complaint that GP practices were providing inaccurate information to
patients and could take action as outlined above.  Data Controllers could
express opinion. The ICO would look at accuracy i.e. who the data
controller is, the purposes for which the data will be processed. 

 

I hope this information is helpful. However, if you are dissatisfied, you
have the right to ask for an internal review by writing to us, within two
months of the date of this letter, to:

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Email: [1][email address]

 

Please quote the reference number SDR 215821 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

K9 5AF

 

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Email: [2][email address].uk  

Website: [3]www.ico.gov.uk

 

Please note there is no charge for making an appeal.

 

Please do not reply directly to this email. This message has been sent
from a central mailbox and incoming messages will not be received.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Michelle Butterworth

Freedom of Information

NHS England

 

Tel: 0300 311 2233

Email: [4][email address]

Website: [5]www.england.nhs.uk

Address: NHS England, PO Box 16738, REDDITCH, B97 9PT

 

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
4. mailto:[email address]
5. http://www.england.nhs.uk/

Jonathan Baines left an annotation ()

With Tim's permission, I've blogged about the response to this request http://informationrightsandwrongs.com/20...