Care homes and the coronavirus

Important:- During this pandemic you may experience understandable delays
when making information requests. Please bear with us during this period.

Dear Jack Everett

We acknowledge with thanks your request for information held by Bolton
Council received at this office on 07 May 2020.

This request will be considered under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
and may take up to 20 working days to be processed (although we will
endeavour to provide the information as quickly as possible).

Please be advised that if an exemption applies to the information that you
have requested, the statutory period may be exceeded in accordance with
the provisions of the act.

Please retain the reference number RFI 005666 for any future enquiries
regarding this matter.

Many thanks

Information Governance Team

Room 120, 1^st Floor, Town Hall, Bolton, Bl1 1RU

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This e-mail and any attached files are confidential and may also be
legally privileged. They are intended solely for the intended addressee.
If you are not the addressee please e-mail it back to the sender and then
immediately, permanently delete it. Do not read, print, re-transmit, store
or act in reliance on it. This e-mail may be monitored by Bolton Council
in accordance with current regulations.

This footnote also confirms that this e-mail message has been swept for
the presence of computer viruses currently known to Bolton Council.
However, the recipient is responsible for virus-checking before opening
this message and any attachment.

Unless expressly stated to the contrary, any views expressed in this
message are those of the individual sender and may not necessarily reflect
the views of Bolton Council.

http://www.bolton.gov.uk/

Dear Jack Everett

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

The council has considered your request which was received on 7 May 2020
and our response is shown below.

You requested:

Please provide all emails about COVID-19 between this council and these
care home providers:

- HC-One

- Four Seasons

- Barchester

- Bupa

- Care UK

- Renaissance

Please also provide all emails about COVID-19 between this council and all
local authority-run care homes.

As a timeframe, please carry out a search between 1st February and 7th
May.

Our Response

Bolton Council has considered your request and feels that the information
you have requested is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (“the Act”). Under the Act, Bolton Council has a duty
to supply any information it holds on request, unless there is an
exemption. It is the Council’s policy only to apply the exemptions where
there is a genuine risk of harm or prejudice.

Section 17 of the Act provides that when refusing a request, Bolton
Council must provide a notice which (a) states that fact, (b) specifies
the exemption in question, and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be
apparent) why the exemption applies.

In this case, we consider that the exemption under section 14(1) of the
Act applies.  

Under section 14(1) of the Act, public authorities do not have to comply
with vexatious requests. The Information Commissioners Office (ICO)
recognises that dealing with unreasonable requests can place a strain on
resources and get in the way of delivering mainstream services or
answering legitimate requests. Furthermore, vexatious requests can also
damage the reputation of the legislation itself.  

Section 14(1) is designed to protect public authorities by allowing them
to refuse any requests which have the potential to cause a
disproportionate or unjustified level of disruption, irritation or
distress. This exemption is concerned with the nature of the request
rather than the consequences of releasing the requested information. The
concepts of ‘proportionality’ and ‘justification’ are central to any
consideration of whether a request is vexatious.  

Burden on the authority: The effort required to meet the request will be
so grossly oppressive in terms of the strain on time and resources, that
the authority cannot reasonably be expected to comply, no matter how
legitimate the subject matter or valid the intentions of the requester.

In the published guidance the Commissioner considers the impact of the
burden upon the authority in terms of ‘expense and distraction’. I am sure
you will understand and appreciate in the current unprecedented climate
responding to this request would impose a significant burden in terms of
expense to a publicly-funded authority, and in terms of the distraction of
its officials away from other pressing business. Resources across the
Council are being prioritised to help tackle the Coronavirus (Covid-19)
pandemic and locating the requested information would require a large
number of staff to undertake searches within email determine what
information is relevant and in scope of this request thus causing
resources to be disrupted which would take away resources from the
Council’s delivery of services, which is counterproductive to serving the
general public interest. The Council believe this activity is not
proportionate to the value gained by disclosing this information into the
public domain and responding to this request currently during the
fast-moving nature of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in the United
Kingdom is not an effective use of officer time and would cause a
disproportionate and unjustified level of disruption.  

In all the circumstances, and given the analysis above, the Department
does not consider that it is reasonable or in the wider public interest
for it to devote public resources to answering the request you have
submitted. Based on this unprecedented situation the Council is currently
withholding the requested information as detailed above under section
14(1) of the Act.  

Please accept this email as a refusal notice issued in accordance with
section 17 of the Act.  

In accordance with section 16(1) of the Act, the Council has a duty to
provide advice and assistance to you, as far as it is reasonable to do so.
Information for care homes regarding covid19 has been published on our
website is accessible via the following link
[1]https://www.bolton.gov.uk/adult-social-c...

As per the Information Commissioners Office’s Freedom of Information Code
of Practice, should you disagree with our decision, you may appeal within
40 working days of this email to:

The Borough Solicitor, Bolton Council, Town Hall, Bolton, BL1 1RU

Email: [2][email address]

Should you further disagree with the decision following the appeal you may
wish to contact the Information Commissioner:

Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF

[3]www.ico.org.uk

Tel: 0303 123 1113

Should you have any queries, please contact [4][email address]

Yours sincerely

The Information Governance Team

Town Hall, Bolton, BL1 1RU

>>Corporate Logo<<

This e-mail and any attached files are confidential and may also be
legally privileged. They are intended solely for the intended addressee.
If you are not the addressee please e-mail it back to the sender and then
immediately, permanently delete it. Do not read, print, re-transmit, store
or act in reliance on it. This e-mail may be monitored by Bolton Council
in accordance with current regulations.

This footnote also confirms that this e-mail message has been swept for
the presence of computer viruses currently known to Bolton Council.
However, the recipient is responsible for virus-checking before opening
this message and any attachment.

Unless expressly stated to the contrary, any views expressed in this
message are those of the individual sender and may not necessarily reflect
the views of Bolton Council.

http://www.bolton.gov.uk/

References

Visible links
1. https://www.bolton.gov.uk/adult-social-c...
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.ico.org.uk/
4. mailto:[email address]