Health Protection Branch
Castle Buildings
Stormont Estate
Joanne Clifford
BELFAST
request-686330-
BT4 3SQ
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
29 October 2020
Dear Ms Clifford
Request for Information: Freedom of Information Act 2000
Reference Number: DOH/2020-0166
I firstly wish to apologise for the delay in answering your request for information
submitted on 20 August 2020. The Department is aware that we are outside the
legislative time to respond to your request.
As you will understand resources within the Department and wider health
organisations throughout NI, have been stretched over the last number of months
due to ongoing and ever changing Covid19 challenges. A considerable number of
staff have been redeployed from their normal “day jobs” to work solely on response
to the current pandemic.
The Department acknowledges public interest in the transparency and
accountability of government, and the immeasurable public interest associated with
the current pandemic and how that affects us all. We fully recognise that
disclosure of the information you have requested will give citizens, like yourself,
confidence that decisions are taken on the basis of the best available information.
However the staff who are in the best position to answer your query fully are the
very staff engaged in the daily discussions and consultations with the Minister and
the Executive in
considering the most appropriate course of action to steer us through the current
crisis.
In the meantime and in an effort to be as helpful as possible, a lot of information
underpinning decisions taken by the Department and Health Minister, is derived
from work undertaken by other organisations such as the
Scientific Advisory Group
for Emergencies (
SAGE), Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency
(NISRA) and Public Health Agency (PHA). As well as this information, the
Department this week has begun publishing some of the scientific evidence on the
wearing of face masks on its website. The website is updated regularly with
general advice on Covid19 as well as the Department’s dashboard with specific
Covid19 data which is updated daily. This information can be found at the following
links:
SAGE, NISRA, PHA, the
Department’s own website and the
Department’s
dashboard with specific Covid19 data, Scientific data and R number data. Additional y Minister provides regular updates to MLA’s during plenary sessions
and Minister & Departmental officials regularly attend NI Assembly Committee
evidence sessions. Recordings and transcripts of these can be viewed on the NI
Assembly website.
I realise that this perhaps does not answer your specific questions but I hope you
may get the answers you seek via the published information.
We again apologise for the delay in providing a response but hope you understand
the current circumstances and the resource limitations the Department is currently
experiencing.
If you feel that the information we have provided does not fully meet your request
please contact us at 02890528689 in the first instance. You have the right to
request a formal review by the Department within two calendar months of the date
of this letter. If you wish to do so, please write to Mr Brendan O’Neil
(foi@health-
ni.gov.uk), Annexe 3, Castle Buildings, Stormont, Belfast BT4 3SQ.
If after such an internal review you are still unhappy with the response, you have
the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at Wycliffe House, Water
Lane, Wilmslow, CHESHIRE SK9 5AF, who will undertake an independent review.
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please remember to
quote the reference number above in any future communications.
Yours Sincerely
Laura Roddy
Local Information Manager