This is an HTML version of an attachment to the Freedom of Information request 'Unsolicited covid-19 correspondence/data breaches and the reliability of tests'.


 
Freedom of Information Team 
Department of Health and Social Care 
39 Victoria Street 
London SW1H 0EU 
 
www.gov.uk/dhsc 
 
 
Mr Carroll  
By email to: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx 
01 October 2021 
Dear Mr Carroll, 
 
Freedom of Information Request Reference FOI-1262496 
 
Thank you for your request dated 10 October 2020, and apologies for the delay in our 
response to your query which asked the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC): 
 
“Dear Department of Health and Social Care, 
 I am writing to make an open government request for all the information to which I am 
entitled under the Freedom of Information Act and the Environmental Information 
Regulations. In order to assist you with this request, I am outlining my query as specifically 
as possible. If however, this request is too wide or too unclear, I would be grateful if you 
could contact me as I understand that under the act, you are required to advise and assist 
requesters. I recently received unsolicited correspondence from Ipsos Mori, inviting me to 
take part in a covid-19 test study. I have absolutely no intention of ever doing so. Can I 
firstly ask how do I remove my name from NHS England being able to give out my details 
to third parties such as these without my consent? Please direct me to the relevant link, as 
I did not and do not give my consent for my address and name to be doled out to polesters 
and academia. 
(i) Please disclose how many random letters such as this have been sent out in England, 
and please disclose methodology of how this process is carried out. 
(ii)Please clarify if this randomness is carried out in totality of records held for England by 
NHS England, or if it is broken down by geographical areas for specific targeting, which 
would not make it random at all.  For example, if you wanted to shut down certain areas, 
would it not be facilitated by mass lettering these said areas in order to illicit more tests? 
(iii)Please also give a breakdown by county of how many random letters have been sent 
out, so that we can determine if specific areas are being targeted by stealth - such as The 
North of England in order to facilitate bogus  statistics and local lockdowns. 
(iv) The letter states Once returned to the laboratory and analysed, the test may show 
whether you currently have the covid-19 virus (although test results are not 100% 
accurate) 
Please specify the actual accuracy of these tests, and on what basis confirmation of the 
Covid-19 virus- and by this I mean the actual virus and not amplified DNA matter, can be 
confirmed. 
(v) Though stated that Ipsos Mori and Imperial College London staff and researchers keep 
information confidential, (which is a very big IF), what basis of consent do you have for 
then passing on said information to the test and trace service, who are also a third party to 
the DHSC?I understand that under the act, I should be entitled to a response within 20 
working days. I would be grateful if you could confirm that you have received this request. I 
look forward to hearing from you in the near future via the what do they know website 
address…” 


 
 
 
Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).  
 
Please note that this response is based on the information held at the time the department 
received your request and we apologise for the length of time taken to respond. 
 
DHSC holds the information you have requested. DHSC has a statutory legal duty under 
the Health and Social Care Act 2012 (section 11) to protect the public in England from 
disease and or other dangers to public health which includes conducting research to 
advance knowledge and understanding of them. Under the same Act, Article 6 (1)(e) the 
department also has the statutory authority for processing to carry out this research in the 
public interest.  
 
Under this legal duty DHSC commissioned Imperial College London and Ipsos MORI to 
conduct research into COVID-19 and authorised NHS Digital to share a limited amount of 
information with Ipsos MORI for this research. More details about this process and how 
you can have your details removed can be found on the Ipsos MORI Q&A pages here: 
https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/covid-19-swab-test-faqs#nameaddress 
 
(i)Please disclose how many random letters such as this have been sent out in 
England, and please disclose methodology of how this process is carried out.
  
 
DHSC holds the information you have requested. However, as the information held by the 
department is in the public domain we will, under Section 21 of the FOIA (information 
accessible to the applicant by other means), refer you to the published source.  
 
Sufficient letters are sent out in order to achieve the sample size required, which is 
calculated based on the expected response rate. The total number of households sampled 
for each round of the study can be found on the REACT website below: 
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/institute-of-global-health-
innovation/REACT1-R13---REACT2-R6---Fieldwork-info-table.pdf 
 
(ii)Please clarify if this randomness is carried out in totality of records held for 
England by NHS England, or if it is broken down by geographical areas for specific 
targeting, which would not make it random at all.  For example, if you wanted to 
shut down certain areas, would it not be facilitated by mass lettering these said 
areas in order to illicit more tests? 
 
 
DHSC holds the information you have requested. Letters are sent to a nationally 
representative sample of the population among the 315 Lower-Tier Local Authorities 
(LTLAs) in England. 
 
Participants are randomly selected from the National Health Service (NHS) list of patients 
registered with a general practitioner, aged five years and over. The number sent out to 
each of the 315 LTLAs varies depending on the response rates Ipsos MORI observed in 
previous rounds of the study 
 
(iii)Please also give a breakdown by county of how many random letters have been 
sent out, so that we can determine if specific areas are being targeted by stealth - 


 
 
such as The North of England in order to facilitate bogus statistics and local 
lockdowns. 
 
 
DHSC holds the information you have requested. However, as the information held by the 
Department  is  in  the  public  domain  we  will,  under  Section  21  of  the  FOIA  (information 
accessible to the applicant by other means), refer you to the published source.   
 
For each round the sample of addresses is selected entirely at random within each LTLA 
in England, it is not based on counties. LAs are sampled across the whole of England so 
they reflect the country’s population density. More letters would be sent out to an LA where 
the previous response rate observed was lower than expected for the population density of 
that area. Imperial College London’s published Round 5 report (to be found HERE) 
provides a complete breakdown of the number of addresses sampled by each 
LTLA.   Please see the link to the data provided.  
 
(iv) The letter states Once returned to the laboratory and analysed, the test may 
show whether you currently have the covid-19 virus (although test results are not 
100% accurate)
Please specify the actual accuracy of these tests, and on what 
basis confirmation of the Covid-19 virus- and by this I mean the actual virus and not 
amplified DNA matter, can be confirmed.
 
 
DHSC holds the information you have requested. However, as the information held by the 
Department  is  in  the  public  domain  we  will,  under  Section  21  of  the  FOIA  (information 
accessible to the applicant by other means), refer you to the published source.   
 
The antigen (PCR) test for coronavirus is generally considered the most accurate test to 
detect current infection with coronavirus, more details about its’ accuracy can be found in 
the last paragraph of page 9 report from Imperial College London here: 
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.10.20150524v1 
 
(v) Though stated that Ipsos Mori and Imperial College London staff and 
researchers keep information confidential, (which is a very big IF), what basis of 
consent do you have for then passing on said information to the test and trace 
service, who are also a third party to the DHSC? 
 
  
The Department of Health and Social Care (‘DHSC’) commissioned the NHS Test and 
Trace programme on behalf of the UK government and is the data controller for the 
purposes of data protection legislation. DHSC decides what information is required and 
how it needs to be used.  For further information, please see Test and Trace privacy notice 
here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-test-and-trace-privacy- 
information/test-and-trace-overarching-privacy-notice 
 
Ipsos MORI is contacting individuals on behalf of DHSC. Names are chosen at random 
from the NHS list of patients registered with a GP in England. NHS Digital has shared a 
limited amount of personal data so that Ipsos MORI can invite individuals to take part in 
this research. This data consists of: 
 
•  Name and address  
•  Mobile number  
•  NHS number  

 
 
•  Gender and month/year of birth  
 
Patient information has come from the Personal Demographics Service, the national 
electronic database of all NHS patients registered with a GP. While patients can opt out of 
having their confidential patient information shared, this does not apply to the demographic 
information held on the Personal Demographics Service. There is more information on this 
in IPSOS Privacy Notice here: www.ipsos.uk/covid-swab-privacy. 
 
You can also find more information on the Personal Demographics Service here. 
Background; National data opt-out - NHS Digital https://digital.nhs.uk/services/national-
data-opt-out 04/06/2021 
 
 
National Data Opt-out does not apply to this survey and only applies when confidential 
patient information is being used for purposes other than care for the individual. 
Confidential patient information includes clinical data about the individual (such as any 
medical conditions, prescriptions or care received), and any information about the 
individual that has been accessed via the individual’s medical record. This survey only 
uses demographic data and contact details drawn from patient registration records to 
select and contact individuals to take part. This personal data is not classified as 
confidential patient information as no clinical information is used or accessed. As such, the 
National Data Opt-out does not apply. 
 
If you have further questions about either of the REACT studies, you may find further 
answers on the FAQ pages developed for participants by our operational partners, Ipsos 
MORI:  
 
Frequently asked questions about the our COVID-19 swab testing programme (REACT-1) 
[External site] 
https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/covid-19-swab-test-faqs 
 
Frequently asked questions about our lateral flow antibody testing programme (REACT-2) 
[External site] 
https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/covid-19-lateral-flow-antibody-tests-
faqs 
 
If you are not satisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to appeal by 
asking for an internal review. This should be sent to xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx or 
to the address at the top of this letter and be submitted within two months of the date of 
this letter. 
 
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communication. 
 
If you are not content with the outcome of your internal review, you may complain directly 
to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Generally, the ICO cannot make a 
decision unless you have already appealed our original response and received our internal 
review decision. You should raise your concerns with the ICO within three months of your 
last meaningful contact with us. 
 
The ICO can be contacted at: 
 
The Information Commissioner’s Office 
Wycliffe House 

 
 
Water Lane 
Wilmslow SK9 5AF 
 
Website: https://ico.org.uk/concerns 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
Le-Anne Frankson 
Freedom of Information Officer 
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx