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Dear Sam Smith, 

NHS England has assessed your communication as a request under the Freedom
of Information (FOI) Act 2000. Your request is being dealt with under the
terms of the FOI Act and will be answered within twenty working days. Your
reference number is FOI-2309-2023728.

For further information regarding the FOI Act, please refer to the website
of the [1]Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). For further information
regarding NHS England, and the information we publish, please visit [2]our
website.

If you have any queries about this request or wish to contact us again,
please email [3][NHS England request email] and the message will be
forwarded appropriately. Please remember to quote the above reference
number in any future communications.

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information

NHS England
PO Box 16738
REDDITCH
B97 9PT

Tel: 0300 311 22 33
Email: [4][NHS England request email] 

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Dear Sam Smith,

We refer to your email of 18 October 2023 in which you requested
information under the FOI Act from NHS England.  Please accept our sincere
apologies for the delay in responding to your request.

Your request

You made the following request:

“can you please provide
all a) agendas, b) board papers, and c) approved minutes, for meetings of
the data, digital and technology subcommittee of the board between 1st
February 2023 and the 31st July.”

Decision

NHS England holds this information.

Please see the attached PDF documents.

Minutes of meeting 6 April 2023

Minutes of meeting 12 July 2023.

Please note, however, that some information in both sets of minutes has
been redacted under section 40 (2) FOI Act, (personal information).

Information is exempt under section 40(2) where that information
constitutes personal data (other than that of the requester) and one of
the conditions set out in sections 40(3A), 40(3B) and (40(4A) is
satisfied. Under the FOI Act, the disclosure of the specific information
would contravene the first data protection principle, i.e., the
requirement to process personal data fairly, lawfully and transparently.
For reference, the data protection principles are set out in Article 5 of
the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
 
In this instance the names of staff members at or below Band 9 and all
signatures or contact details have been withheld, as have job titles in
instances where the release of that information could be used to identify
individuals who have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

We take the view that it would not be fair or lawful to disclose such
information, and any disclosure would therefore contravene the first data
protection principle.
 
Accordingly, the disclosure of this information would not be lawful, and
therefore is exempt under section 40(2) of the FOIA.

Please also note that some redactions have been applied to the minutes of
the meeting of 6 April 2023 under Section 36 (2) (c) of the Freedom of
Information Act.

Section 36 – prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs

Section 36(2) of the FOI Act states:
Information to which this section applies is exempt information if, in the
reasonable opinion of a qualified person, disclosure of the information
under this Act —
b. would, or would be likely to, inhibit—
i. the free and frank provision of advice, or
ii. the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation,
or
c. would otherwise prejudice, or would be likely otherwise to prejudice,
the effective
conduct of public affairs.

For the purposes of section 36, NHS England’s qualified person is its
Chief Executive.

Our qualified person has been consulted and has formed the view that
disclosure of the information being requested would be likely to prejudice
the effective conduct of public affairs.

Specifically, disclosure would be likely to:

Prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs as outlined in section
36(2)(b)(i) and section 36(2)(b)(ii)

In relation to these sub-sections, the ICO’s guidance on section 36
explains that these exemptions are about the processes that may be
inhibited, rather than what is in the information. The issue is whether
disclosure would inhibit the processes of providing advice or exchanging
views.

The ICO’s guidance defines the key terms in this exemption as follows:
‘Inhibit’ means to restrain, decrease or suppress the freedom with which
opinions or options are expressed.

The ‘exchange of views’ must be as part of a process of deliberation.
Deliberation’ refers to the public authority’s evaluation of competing
arguments or
considerations in order to make a decision.

We consider disclosure of this part of the minutes which refer to a report
received on Accelerating access to GP Data Programme which describes the
progress made on the programme with the Committee questioning the freedom
of NHSE to drive the programme.
 
To provide context, the section relates to consideration within the
Department that could impact the programme and release of this information
without context by any media would be likely to cause harm to
relationships with key external stakeholders.

Public interest test

Section 36 is a qualified exemption and therefore the information can only
be withheld where the public interest in maintaining the exemption
outweighs the public interest in disclosure. We have therefore carried out
a public interest test and our considerations are detailed below.

Arguments in favour of disclosure:

There is a public interest in transparency and openness in relation to
decisions made by public bodies, particularly matters affecting the NHS.
There is a public interest in understanding what the specific discussions
took place at the relevant meetings.

Arguments in favour of non-disclosure:

It is not in the public interest for the working relationship between NHS
England and our partner organisations to be potentially damaged.

It is not in the public interest for the public to lose trust and
confidence in NHS England or our partner organisations.

NHS England is providing all the information that we hold, notwithstanding
the redacted information.

NHS England’s view is that, on balance, the public interest in maintaining
the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure. We acknowledge
there is a public interest in
understanding what is contained within the minutes However, we consider
providing the meeting minutes goes a significant way in meeting this
public interest.

We have also given significant weight to ensuring NHS England’s internal
meeting  processes are not inhibited.

Copyright

NHS England operates under the terms of the Open Government Licence (OGL).
Terms and conditions can be found on the following link:

[1]http://www.england.nhs.uk/terms-and-cond...

Review rights

If you consider that your request for information has not been properly
handled or if you are otherwise dissatisfied with the outcome of your
request, you may seek an internal review within NHS England of the issue
or the decision. A senior member of NHS England’s staff, who has not
previously been involved with your request, will undertake that review.

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of any internal review, you may
complain to the Information Commissioner for a decision on whether your
request for information has been dealt with in accordance with the FOI
Act.

A request for an internal review should be submitted in writing to
[2][NHS England request email]

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information
NHS England
 

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