Dear Philip,

Thank you for your email below requesting information from Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

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, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards

FOI Department
Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Trust Headquarters, St George’s, Long Leys Road, Lincoln, LN1 1FS

CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT
DISCLAIMER: This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. Therefore if the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this E-Mail is strictly prohibited. Any views or opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust unless otherwise explicitly stated. The information contained in this e-mail may be subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Unless the information is legally exempt from disclosure, the confidentiality of this e-mail and your reply cannot be guaranteed.

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Dear Philip,

Further to your Freedom of Information Request, as per your original email, our response from Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is as follows:

The trust has implemented Section 31(1)(a) of the FOIA, which will cover all aspects of the prevention and detection of crime. It could apply to information on general policies and methods adopted by law enforcement agencies. The exemption also covers information held by public authorities without any specific law enforcement responsibilities. It could be used by a public authority to withhold copies of information it had provided to a law enforcement agency as part of an investigation. It could also be used to withhold information that would make anyone, including the public authority itself, more vulnerable to crime for example, by disclosing its own security procedures.

Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT) has considered that disclosure of this information would assist a hacker in gaining valuable information as to the nature of its systems, defences, and possible vulnerabilities, now or in the future. This information would enter the public domain and set a precedent for other similar requests which would, in principle, result in LPFT being in a position where it would be more difficult to refuse information in similar requests.

To provide this information is likely to enable hackers to obtain information in mosaic form combined with other information to enable them to gain greater insight than they would ordinarily have, which would facilitate the commissioning of crime such as hacking itself and fraud. This would have an impact on LPFT’s operations including their front-line services. The prejudice in complying with section 1(1)(a) FOIA is real and significant as to provide this data would allow valuable insight into LPFT’s ICT systems.

Therefore LPFT’s position is that complying with this request would be likely to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime, as the information could assist those who want to attack LPFT ICT systems.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to request for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original letter and should be addressed to: FOI Department, Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Trust Headquarters, Long Leys Road, Lincoln, Lincolnshire LN1 1FS. 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 can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Kind regards

FOI Department
Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Headquarters, St George’s, Long Leys Road, Lincoln, LN1 1FS

CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT
DISCLAIMER: This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. Therefore if the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this E-Mail is strictly prohibited. Any views or opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust unless otherwise explicitly stated. The information contained in this e-mail may be subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Unless the information is legally exempt from disclosure, the confidentiality of this e-mail and your reply cannot be guaranteed.

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