Correspondence with Merton Council on plans for Wilson Health and Wellbeing Campus

The request was refused by NHS Merton Clinical Commissioning Group.

Dear NHS Merton Clinical Commissioning Group,

This is to ask for copies of all correspondence since 1 January 2016 between Merton Council and NHS Merton CCG in respect of the proposals for the Wilson Health & Wellbeing Campus. For the sake of clarity this request relates to correspondence with both officers and members and to all aspects of the proposals (including service provision, public health and town and country planning issues)

Yours faithfully,

Tony Burton

Foi (NHS NEL CSU), NHS Merton Clinical Commissioning Group

Dear Mr Burton

I am writing to formally acknowledge your request for information regarding correspondence with Merton Council which will be processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I can confirm your request was received on 22nd January 2018 by NHS NEL Commissioning Support Unit (NEL CSU) on behalf of the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) listed below. The references for your requests are shown alongside.

NHS Merton CCGFOI.17.MERT191

An initial investigation is currently taking place into whether the information you have requested is held by the CCGs and if so, whether it can be released in accordance with the legislation.

Any fees applicable to this request will be detailed in writing as soon as they can be determined. Your request will then be placed on hold and you will have the choice of whether to proceed with your request. Should any clarification of your request be required we will advise you accordingly.

If you require any assistance, or would like to discuss your request, please do not hesitate to contact us quoting the reference number above.

Kind regards

Robyn

Freedom of Information Team
NEL Commissioning Support Unit
[NHS Merton CCG request email]

3rd Floor
1 Lower Marsh
London SE1 7NT

www.nelcsu.nhs.uk
@NELCSU
LinkedIn

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Foi (NHS NEL CSU), NHS Merton Clinical Commissioning Group

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Burton

Please see the attached FOI response.

Yours sincerely

Freedom of Information Team
NEL Commissioning Support Unit
[NHS Merton CCG request email]

3rd Floor
1 Lower Marsh
London SE1 7NT

www.nelcsu.nhs.uk
@NELCSU
LinkedIn

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Dear Foi (NHS NEL CSU),

Thank you for your response.

This is to amend my request to restrict it to (1) any report or signed letter relating to communications between Merton Council and NHS Merton CCG in respect of the proposals for the Wilson Health & Wellbeing Campus and (2) any correspondence involving any elected member of Merton Council or officer in Merton Council's Environment and Regeneration Department.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Burton

Foi (NHS NEL CSU), NHS Merton Clinical Commissioning Group

Dear Mr Burton

Please regard this email as confirmation that your refined request has been received and we will begin processing. Please note that I have issued a new reference for your request: FOI.17.MERT206.

If you require any assistance, or would like to discuss your request, please do not hesitate to contact us quoting the reference number above.

Kind regards

Piri Norris

Freedom of Information Team
NEL Commissioning Support Unit
[NHS Merton CCG request email]

3rd Floor
1 Lower Marsh
London SE1 7NT

www.nelcsu.nhs.uk
@NELCSU
LinkedIn

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Dear Foi (NHS NEL CSU),

This is to ask for an indication of when a response to my refined request will be provided.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Burton

Dear Foi (NHS NEL CSU),

I would appreciate an update on this request which is now well overdue

Yours sincerely,

Tony Burton

Foi (NHS NEL CSU), NHS Merton Clinical Commissioning Group

Dear Mr Burton,

 

Thank you for your email. I apologise for the delay in providing the
response to your request. I am looking into this and will provide an
update as soon as possible.

 

Kind regards,

 

Kimberley Swift
FOI Manager 
NEL
[email address]

020 3049 5689 / 07884 051271

 

1 Lower Marsh, 3^rd Floor 
Waterloo, London SE1 7NT

  

[1]www.nelcsu.nhs.uk 

[2]@NELCSU 

[3]LinkedIn 

 

 

 

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Dear NHS Merton Clinical Commissioning Group,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of NHS Merton Clinical Commissioning Group's handling of my FOI request 'Correspondence with Merton Council on plans for Wilson Health and Wellbeing Campus'.

This is now long overdue and is well beyond the deadline.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

Yours faithfully,

Tony Burton

Dear Foi (NHS NEL CSU),

I have had no acknowledgement of my request for an Internal Review - please will you confirm this is underway or it will be necessary for me to take the issue to the ICO.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Burton

Foi (NHS NEL CSU), NHS Merton Clinical Commissioning Group

Dear Mr Burton,

 

RE: FOI Request – FOI.17.MERT206

 

Thank you for your email below.

 

Your email has been forwarded to the FOI Manager for consideration and a
response.

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office recommends that public authorities
carry out internal reviews within 20 working days.

 

We apologise for the delay in sending this acknowledgement of your
Internal Review Request.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Freedom of Information Team
NEL
[1][NHS Merton CCG request email]

 

1 Lower Marsh, 3^rd Floor 
Lower Marsh, London SE1 7NT

  

[2]www.nelcsu.nhs.uk 

[3]@NELCSU 

[4]LinkedIn

 

 

 

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Dear Foi (NHS NEL CSU),

More than 20 days have passed since my request for an internal review. I should welcome an update on progress.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Burton

Dear Foi (NHS NEL CSU),

An internal review was asked for in May of this request made in January.

I should welcome the outcome of this review or will need to raise the matter direct with the ICO.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Burton

Dear Foi (NHS NEL CSU),

I regret this matter is being passed to the ICO

Yours sincerely,

Tony Burton

Dear Foi (NHS NEL CSU),

You will be aware that the ICO has determined that Merton Clinical Commissioning Group (the CCG) has breached section 1(1) and 10(1) of the FOIA in that it failed to provide a valid response my request. The text is reproduced below.

I look forward to receiving a substantive response within 35 calendar days

Yours sincerely,

Tony Burton

Decision notice
Date: 2 November 2018
Public Authority: Merton Clinical Commissioning Group
Address: 5th Floor
120 Broadway
Wimbledon
London
SW19 1RH

Complainant: Tony Burton

Decision (including any steps ordered)
1. The complainant has requested information in respect of proposals for
the Wilson Health and Wellbeing Campus.
2. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Merton Clinical Commissioning
Group (the CCG) has breached section 1(1) and 10(1) of the FOIA in
that it failed to provide a valid response to the request within the
statutory time frame of 20 working days.
3. The Commissioner requires the CCG to take the following steps to
ensure compliance with the legislation.
• The CCG must issue a substantive response to the request in
accordance with its obligations under the FOIA.
4. The public authority must take these steps within 35 calendar days of
the date of this Decision Notice. Failure to comply may result in the
Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court
pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt
of court.

Request and response
5. On 21 January 2018, the complainant wrote to the CCG and requested
information in the following terms:
“This is to ask for copies of all correspondence since 1 January 2016
between Merton Council and NHS Merton CCG in respect of the
proposals for the Wilson Health & Wellbeing Campus. For the sake of
clarity this request relates to correspondence with both officers and
members and to all aspects of the proposals (including service provision,
public health and town and country planning issues).”
6. The CCG responded on 13 February 2018 and withheld the requested
information on application of section 12 of the FOIA, it said that the cost
to determine whether it holds the information would exceed the
appropriate limit. It said that the requester may wish to consider
narrowing the scope of the request.
7. On 14 February 2018, the complainant wrote to the CCG and refined his
request:
“This is to amend my request to restrict it to (1) any report or signed
letter relating to communications between Merton Council and NHS
Merton CCG in respect of the proposals for the Wilson Health &
Wellbeing Campus and (2) any correspondence involving any elected
member of Merton Council or officer in Merton Council's Environment
and Regeneration Department.”
8. The CCG acknowledged the refined request on 15 February 2018 but
failed to provide a substantive response within 20 working days. It
wrote to the complainant on 26 April 2018 to apologise for the delay.
9. Due to the CCG’s failure to provide a response, on 23 May 2018, the
complainant requested an internal review. This was acknowledged by
the CCG on 17 June 2018, it however failed to provide a review decision.
Scope of the case
10. The complainant contacted the Commissioner on 1 October 2018 to
complain about the CCG’s failure to respond to his information request.
11. The Commissioner wrote to the CCG on 5 October 2018, reminding it of
its responsibilities and asking it to provide a substantive response to the
complainant within 10 working days.
12. Despite the Commissioner’s intervention the CCG has, to the date of this
notice, failed to respond to the request.
Reasons for decision
13. Section 1 (1) of the FOIA states that:
“Any person making a request for information to a public authority is
entitled –
(a) to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds
information of the description specified in the request, and
(b) if that is the case, to have that information communicated to
him.”
14. Section 10(1) of the FOIA states that a public authority must respond to
a request promptly and “not later than the twentieth working day
following the date of receipt.”
15. From the evidence provided to the Commissioner in this case, it is clear
that the CCG did not deal with the refined request for information in
accordance with the FOIA. The Commissioner finds that the CCG has
breached section 1(1) and 10(1) by failing to respond to the request
within 20 working days and it is now required to respond to the request
in accordance with the FOIA.

Right of appeal
16. Either party has the right to appeal against this Decision Notice to the
First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights). Information about the appeals
process may be obtained from:
First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights)
GRC & GRP Tribunals,
PO Box 9300,
LEICESTER,
LE1 8DJ
Tel: 0300 1234504
Fax: 0870 739 5836
Email: [email address]
Website: www.justice.gov.uk/tribunals/general-reg...
17. If you wish to appeal against a Decision Notice, you can obtain
information on how to appeal along with the relevant forms from the
Information Tribunal website.
18. Any Notice of Appeal should be served on the Tribunal within 28
(calendar) days of the date on which this Decision Notice is sent.
Signed
Pamela Clements
Group Manager
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Foi (NHS NEL CSU), NHS Merton Clinical Commissioning Group

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Burton,

 

Please see the attached response to your recent Freedom of Information
request on the behalf of NHS Merton Clinical Commissioning Group.

 

Kind regards,

Freedom of Information Team
NEL
[1][NHS Merton CCG request email]

 

1 Lower Marsh, 3^rd Floor 
Lower Marsh, London SE1 7NT

  

[2]www.nelcsu.nhs.uk 

[3]@NELCSU 

[4]LinkedIn

 

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Dear Foi (NHS NEL CSU),

Thank you for your overdue response to my request.

I must ask whether you stand by the view that there has been "no correspondence involving any elected member of Merton Council or officer in Merton Council’s Environment and Regeneration Department" about the proposals for the Wilson Health and Well being campus. This stretches credulity when your response on 13 February 2018 was that "there would be well over 1000 emails that relate to the Wilson Health & Wellbeing Campus (WHWC)". It is also a matter of public record that NHS Merton CCG has made representations to Merton Council's Environment and Regeneration Department on the emerging Local Plan policies for the Wilson site.

I am asking for an internal review of the decision behind the response to my request.

I shall be informing the ICO.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Burton

Foi (NHS NEL CSU), NHS Merton Clinical Commissioning Group

Dear Mr Burton

 

I am writing to acknowledge your below request for an internal review.
Your request has been passed to an independent senior manager for
completion.

 

We will be in touch with the outcome of the review in due course.

 

Kind regards,

 

Freedom of Information Team
NEL
[1][NHS Merton CCG request email] 

 

Lower Marsh, 3^rd Floor
Waterloo, London, SE1 7NT

  

[2]www.nelcsu.nhs.uk 

[3]@NELCSU 

[4]LinkedIn 

 

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Dear Foi (NHS NEL CSU),

This is to ask for an update on the internal review requested on 6 December which is in excess of the 20 day deadline for providing such information. I have no wish to escalate the matter further.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Burton

Foi (NHS NEL CSU), NHS Merton Clinical Commissioning Group

Dear Mr Burton

 

We apologise that you have not received a response to your internal review
yet – this is still with the senior manager who was investigating.
Unfortunately he is on leave until next week so we are unable to provide
any further update. We will follow this up with him once he is back and
will endeavour to get your review back to you as soon as possible.

Kind regards,

 

Freedom of Information Team
NEL
[1][NHS Merton CCG request email] 

 

Lower Marsh, 3^rd Floor
Waterloo, London, SE1 7NT

  

[2]www.nelcsu.nhs.uk 

[3]@NELCSU 

[4]LinkedIn 

 

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WINTER, Kevin (NHS NEL CSU), NHS Merton Clinical Commissioning Group

Dear Mr Burton

 

I am the senior manager reviewing your request for an internal review.
Please accept my sincere apologies for the length of time it has taken me
to review this case. It has been an extremely busy period for both the
team and I. I am now actively looking in to your response but will need
some further clarity on which aspects of your request and response you are
dissatisfied with. I would be very grateful if you can provide some
further detail of the areas you would like me to investigate?

 

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

 

Kind Regards

 

Kevin

 

Kevin Winter
Head of FOI and IG Compliance

NEL
[1][email address]

Lower Marsh, 3^rd Floor
Waterloo, London, SE1 7NT

 

[2]www.nelcsu.nhs.uk 

[3]@NELCSU 

[4]LinkedIn 

 

 

From: Foi (NHS NEL CSU)
Sent: 04 January 2019 13:21
To: 'Tony Burton' <[FOI #458715 email]>
Subject: RE: FOI.17.MERT206 - Internal review acknowledged

 

Dear Mr Burton

 

We apologise that you have not received a response to your internal review
yet – this is still with the senior manager who was investigating.
Unfortunately he is on leave until next week so we are unable to provide
any further update. We will follow this up with him once he is back and
will endeavour to get your review back to you as soon as possible.

Kind regards,

 

Freedom of Information Team
NEL
[5][NHS Merton CCG request email] 

 

Lower Marsh, 3^rd Floor
Waterloo, London, SE1 7NT

  

[6]www.nelcsu.nhs.uk 

[7]@NELCSU 

[8]LinkedIn 

 

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Dear WINTER, Kevin (NHS NEL CSU),

My concern is ably described in the request for a review on 3 December 2018. The response received on 26 November 2018 claims there has been "no correspondence" when earlier responses were that there are "well over 1000 emails" and the existence of some correspondence is a matter if public record.

I am requesting that you confirm there has been no correspondence despite evidence to the contrary before considering whether the matter needs to be referred to the ICO again. If you now acknowledge there is correspondence then I am requesting to be provided with it.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Burton

Dear WINTER, Kevin (NHS NEL CSU),

This is to ask for a response to my request of 16 February. This matter has already been to the ICO once.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Burton

WINTER, Kevin (NHS NEL CSU), NHS Merton Clinical Commissioning Group

Dear Mr Burton

We are still awaiting a response to my email 13 February 2019. Please can you confirm the aspects of your request you are unhappy with to allow me to investigate the case?

Kind Regards

Kevin

Kevin Winter
Head of FOI and IG Compliance
NEL
[email address]
07944116668
Lower Marsh, 3rd Floor
Waterloo, London, SE1 7NT

www.nelcsu.nhs.uk
@NELCSU
LinkedIn

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Dear WINTER, Kevin (NHS NEL CSU),

My concerns are as set out in my response of 16 February - there is a clear disconnect between the view that there has been no correspondence and public evidence that such correspondence exists.

Given the inordinate delays in handling this request may I ask if the matter could be expedited.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Burton

WINTER, Kevin (NHS NEL CSU), NHS Merton Clinical Commissioning Group

Dear Mr Burton

Thank you for your email. The outcome of my review should be with you shortly.

Kind Regards

Kevin

Kevin Winter
Head of FOI and IG Compliance
NEL
[email address]
07944116668
Lower Marsh, 3rd Floor
Waterloo, London, SE1 7NT

www.nelcsu.nhs.uk
@NELCSU
LinkedIn

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Dear WINTER, Kevin (NHS NEL CSU),

It is now July - please can you let me know by the end of next week when this report will be available?

Yours sincerely,

Tony Burton

Dear WINTER, Kevin (NHS NEL CSU),

It is now four months since I was informed the outcome of your review would be with me "shortly".

Please will you provide this by the end of August or I will have to escalate the issue.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Burton

Dear WINTER, Kevin (NHS NEL CSU),

I have written to the ICO today as below:

"I regret that I am formally referring this issue to the ICO again in order to seek further resolution. The full details are available on What do they Know (https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...) and you will recall that you determined that NHS Merton CCG was in breach back in November 2018. The latest issue is a failure to undertake an internal review of the information provided following your determination. This was requested in December 2018 and there have been regular reminders.

I should be grateful of an indication of the timeframe within which the ICO can consider the case again and also what sanctions are available to address what appear to be systemic problems with NHS Merton CCG's compliance with Freedom of Information requests."

Yours sincerely,

Tony Burton

Foi (NHS NEL CSU), NHS Merton Clinical Commissioning Group

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Burton,

 

Please find attached the internal review response for your request
(FOI.17.MERT206) and we apologise for the delay in providing you with the
outcome of this review due to an administrative error, therefore, response
was not issued last year once it had been completed.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Freedom of Information Team
NEL
[1][NHS Merton CCG request email] 

 

Lower Marsh, 3^rd Floor
Waterloo, London, SE1 7NT

  

[2]www.nelcsu.nhs.uk 

[3]@NELCSU 

[4]LinkedIn 

 

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Dear Foi (NHS NEL CSU),

Thank you for the results of the long awaited internal review.

I do not accept the findings and am continuing to raise the issue with the ICO.

The internal review:

- contains errors of fact - e.g. "The first request included all staff and the refined was limited to elected members" when the refined request also included relevant correspondence with any "officer in Merton Council’s Environment and Regeneration Department"

- fails to explain how there can be "no correspondence" when it is a matter of public record that NHS Merton CCG has made representations to Merton Council's Environment and Regeneration Department on the emerging Local Plan policies for the Wilson site.

Alternatively the CCG may wish to respond to my refined request and we can close the matter.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Burton

Tony Burton left an annotation ()

This request was not supported by the ICO on the grounds that it was considered the CCG did not hold the information - Reference: IC-45090-V1Y9. The CCG was criticised for the long delays in handling the request.

A new FoI request has been submitted using different words.