DO-18 Request IPC Cell minutes 13 Jan 2021 to 2 Feb 2021
Dear NHS England,
I note that an item was on the agenda for the IPC Cell 'huddle'/meeting on 13 Jan 2021.
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/u...
Matters were to be discussed under 'matters arising' concerning "BAPEN (AGP Alliance)".
As a member of the AGP Alliance and the more recently formed Covid Airborne Protection Alliance I have an interest in the ensuing discussions amongst members of the IPC Cell.
Please would you therefore provide me with copies of email correspondence between Public Health England and the UK IPC Cell between 13 Jan 2021 and 2 Feb 2021. This should include attachments to those emails such as notes or minutes of IPC Cell meetings or 'huddles' as they called them. Since this only covers a 3 week period and should be a straightforward, fairly automated activity there is no reason whereby this should exceed cost restraints.
Yours faithfully,
David Osborn
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Dear NHS England,
I am writing to remind you that you are now well overdue with a response to this request for information. I should have received it by 15 March. It is a month overdue.
Please take this as notice that if the information is not received by the end of April 2024 I shall have to register it as a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office.
Yours faithfully,
David Osborn
Dear Applicant,
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 - 2404-2092994.
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
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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]
Dear NHS England,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of NHS England's handling of my FOI request 'DO-18 Request IPC Cell minutes 13 Jan 2021 to 2 Feb 2021'. The review should, in particular, address the unacceptable length of time it that has elapsed before you even started to process this FoI request. It is clear from the reference number you have assigned (FOI - 2404-2092994) that you didn't even start to process this request until April.
I submitted this request on 17 February.
By law you should have responded within 20 working days (15 March). You should also have confirmed whether or not you hold the information requested.
I understand and fully appreciate that you are busy and I patiently waited another month for the information to arrive. I then wrote to you on 16 April to remind you it was overdue.
Now, almost a month later, you inform me that you are only just starting to process the application. This is quite unsatisfactory.
The arrangements for handling FoI's in a timely manner within NHS-E clearly need scrutiny by the Information Commissioner's Office. I shall request that they do so. If necessary you should assign more resources to this work in order to properly comply with your statutory duties.
I shall also suggest that ICO investigate whether this specific request has been delayed longer than other requests NHS-E receives on account of the sensitive nature of the information requested i.e. whether there has been a deliberate, intended delay on your part designed to obfuscate and hamper investigations into important matters relating to the conduct of the organisation (the IPC Cell in particular) during the pandemic.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/d...
Yours faithfully,
David Osborn
Dear David Osborn,
Thank you for your recent email regarding Freedom of Information request
reference FOI-2404-2092994. Please accept our apologies for the delay in
responding to your request.
We take our statutory duties in respect of Freedom of Information (FOI)
seriously, and recognise that there is no provision within the FOI Act to
extend the timeframe for a response. We are working to provide you with a
response as soon as possible, and understand that this delay may be
frustrating.
NHS England will be happy to conduct an Internal Review into the delay
associated with your request (plus any elements of the response as
directed by you) once a response has been provided. Meanwhile, you are
entitled to [1]apply directly to the Information Commissioner's Office
(ICO) for a decision.
If you have any queries about this request or wish to contact us again,
please email [2][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: [3][NHS England request email]
Dear David Osbourne,
Thank you for your email of 16 April 2024 in which you requested
information under the FOI Act from NHS England.
Your request
I note that an item was on the agenda for the IPC Cell 'huddle'/meeting on
13 Jan 2021.
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/u...
Matters were to be discussed under 'matters arising' concerning "BAPEN
(AGP Alliance)".
As a member of the AGP Alliance and the more recently formed Covid
Airborne Protection Alliance I have an interest in the ensuing discussions
amongst members of the IPC Cell.
Please would you therefore provide me with copies of email correspondence
between Public Health England and the UK IPC Cell between 13 Jan 2021 and
2 Feb 2021.
This should include attachments to those emails such as notes or minutes
of IPC Cell meetings or 'huddles' as they called them. Since this only
covers a 3-week period and should be a straightforward, fairly automated
activity there is no reason whereby this should exceed cost restraints.
Decision
NHS England holds part of the information you have requested and decided
to release the information it does hold.
NHS England have searched all emails exchanged between Public Health
England (now UKHSA) and NHS England between the dates of 13 January 2021
and 02 February 2021. We have located a total of 2 emails with an
attachment referring to “BAPEN (AGP Alliance)"
Please find attached redacted minutes from the IPC Cell huddle from:
13 January 2021 – discussed BAPEN (AHP Alliance) – AGPs
20 January 2021
NHS England do not hold the email circulating minutes of 20 January 2021,
however, have attached the minutes circulated to Cell members.
Section 40 applied
We are withholding the names and contact details of those involved in the
correspondence under the exemption at section 40(2) of the FOIA, which
relates to personal data of persons other than yourself (the requester).
Section 40(2) of the FOIA provides that personal data relating to persons
other than the requester is exempt information if disclosure would breach
the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). We consider that disclosure of this
information is likely to breach the first data protection principle in
Schedule 1 to the DPA, which relates to the fair and lawful processing of
personal data, in two ways. First, disclosure would not constitute ‘fair’
processing of the personal data and, second, disclosure would not satisfy
any of the conditions for data processing set out in Schedule 2 to the
DPA. Therefore, we have concluded that this information is exempt from
disclosure under section 40(2) of the FOIA.
Copyright
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Terms and conditions can be found on the following link:
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Review rights
If you consider that your request for information has not been properly
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request for information has been dealt with in accordance with the FOI
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A request for an internal review should be submitted in writing
to [2][NHS England request email]
Yours sincerely,
Freedom of Information
NHS England
Dear NHS England,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of NHS England's handling of my FOI request 'DO-18 Request IPC Cell minutes 13 Jan 2021 to 2 Feb 2021'.
Thank you for forwarding the minutes of the 13th and 20th January 2021.
However, your response is unsatisfactory in that you have not provided all the information that I requested. It is also unsatisfactory that I have had to wait over 3 months for information which should have been received within 20 working days.
The fact that I informed you of my membership of the former AGP Alliance has nothing whatsoever to do with the request that I made. This was mentioned to you as a courtesy, not as a way of limiting or restricting the information requested.
For the avoidance of doubt I am asking you to provide the minutes of ALL the IPC Cell minutes between 13 Jan 2021 and 2 Feb 2021 - not just those minutes which contained reference to the AGP Alliance. My request did not in any way imply that I only required those meetings in which AGP Alliance was mentioned.
So please send me the minutes of the other meetings which took place during that time-period.
In the two sets of minutes that you have sent me, you have redacted information which you are not legally entitled to redact i.e. every entry in the minutes which did not contain reference to the AGP Alliance. Again, for the avoidance of doubt, my interest is in ALL topics discussed at the meetings, not just what was said about the AGP Alliance. My request did not in any way imply that I was only interested in paragraphs relating to AGP Alliance.
Furthermore, you have not provided associated documents which there will undoubtedly have been and would(or should) have been filed with the minutes and sent as attachments to emails communicating with the minutes. Again, my request includes receiving copies of those - with only personal data redacted as per the provisions of Section 40.
You have are only legally entitled to redact personal data which, in this case, is the names or initials of the participants in the meeting. You are not permitted to redact the text relating to what was said or discussed.
In other words, I expect that you will follow the same principles in disclosing data which you followed in this FoI request (which related to the minutes of the preceding meetings) : https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/u...
For example, for the meeting of 6 Jan 2021 you sent:
- the email attaching agenda
- the Minutes of the meeting and all associated documents circulated to Cell members:
- the Comments on SBAR PPE Dec 2020
- Ambulances and PPE
- Narrative timeline ... recommendations
- IPC Cell slides
In other words, all documents pertaining to each meeting.
So, in summary, I request that you send those two sets of minutes again PLUS any emails, attachments or documents associated with the minutes which would have been circulated to IPC members attending these meetings - and with only the data redacted which you are permitted to redact by law.
Having raised this request on 17 February, you have kept me waiting an inordinately long time for the information requested. I therefore hope that you will respond positively, promptly and proactively to this request for an internal review and in full, with all data disclosed that is not exempted by law.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/d...
Yours faithfully,
David Osborn
Freedom of Information Revised Position
Our Ref: FOI-2404-2092994 / FOI-2405-2106292
ICO Ref: IC-321533-C8G9
Dear David Osborn,
We write further to your request made under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 (FOI Act) dated 16 April 2024.
FOI request
On 16 April 2024, NHS England received the following FOI request:
“I note that an item was on the agenda for the IPC Cell 'huddle'/meeting
on 13 Jan 2021.
[1]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/u...
Matters were to be discussed under 'matters arising' concerning "BAPEN
(AGP Alliance)".
As a member of the AGP Alliance and the more recently formed Covid
Airborne Protection Alliance I have an interest in the ensuing discussions
amongst members of the IPC Cell.
Please would you therefore provide me with copies of email correspondence
between Public Health England and the UK IPC Cell between 13 Jan 2021 and
2 Feb 2021. This should include attachments to those emails such as notes
or minutes of IPC Cell meetings or 'huddles' as they called them. Since
this only covers a 3 week period and should be a straightforward, fairly
automated activity there is no reason whereby this should exceed cost
restraints.”
NHS England responded to your FOI request on 24 May 2024.
Reasons for appeal
You were dissatisfied with NHS England’s original response and provided
the following reasons for appealing our response:
“Thank you for forwarding the minutes of the 13th and 20th January 2021.
However, your response is unsatisfactory in that you have not provided all
the information that I requested. It is also unsatisfactory that I have
had to wait over 3 months for information which should have been received
within 20 working days.
The fact that I informed you of my membership of the former AGP Alliance
has nothing whatsoever to do with the request that I made. This was
mentioned to you as a courtesy, not as a way of limiting or restricting
the information requested.
For the avoidance of doubt I am asking you to provide the minutes of ALL
the IPC Cell minutes between 13 Jan 2021 and 2 Feb 2021 - not just those
minutes which contained reference to the AGP Alliance. My request did not
in any way imply that I only required those meetings in which AGP Alliance
was mentioned.
So please send me the minutes of the other meetings which took place
during that time-period.
In the two sets of minutes that you have sent me, you have redacted
information which you are not legally entitled to redact i.e. every entry
in the minutes which did not contain reference to the AGP Alliance. Again,
for the avoidance of doubt, my interest is in ALL topics discussed at the
meetings, not just what was said about the AGP Alliance. My request did
not in any way imply that I was only interested in paragraphs relating to
AGP Alliance.
Furthermore, you have not provided associated documents which there will
undoubtedly have been and would(or should) have been filed with the
minutes and sent as attachments to emails communicating with the minutes.
Again, my request includes receiving copies of those - with only personal
data redacted as per the provisions of Section 40.
You have are only legally entitled to redact personal data which, in this
case, is the names or initials of the participants in the meeting. You are
not permitted to redact the text relating to what was said or discussed.
In other words, I expect that you will follow the same principles in
disclosing data which you followed in this FoI request (which related to
the minutes of the preceding meetings):
[2]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/u...
For example, for the meeting of 6 Jan 2021 you sent:
- the email attaching agenda
- the Minutes of the meeting and all associated documents circulated to
Cell members:
- the Comments on SBAR PPE Dec 2020
- Ambulances and PPE
- Narrative timeline ... recommendations
- IPC Cell slides
In other words, all documents pertaining to each meeting.
So, in summary, I request that you send those two sets of minutes again
PLUS any emails, attachments or documents associated with the minutes
which would have been circulated to IPC members attending these meetings -
and with only the data redacted which you are permitted to redact by law.”
Revised position
We have considered your response and as this has now been clarified with
the ask being more specific, we have revisited this request and provided
further information.
Please find attached further information in scope of your request.
We are withholding some names, job titles where these are personally
identifiable and direct contact information under section 40(2) of the FOI
Act.
Section 40(2) states that requested information is exempt from disclosure
if the first or the second condition at section 40(3A)(a) of the FOI Act
is satisfied.
We consider the information we have withheld constitutes personal data and
the individuals have a reasonable expectation this information would not
be disclosed to the world at large. We consider the first condition under
section 40(3A)(a) is satisfied, namely that disclosure would amount to a
breach of the first data protection principle (personal data should be
processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner) as the individuals
concerned would have a reasonable expectation that these particular items
of personal information would not be disclosed into the public domain.
Section 40 is an absolute exemption and consideration of the public
interest test in disclosure is not required.
Review rights
If you are not content with our response, you have the right to apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information
Commissioner’s Office (ICO) can be contacted at the following weblink:
[3]https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/foi-...
Please do not reply to this email. This message has been sent from a
central mailbox. All correspondence should be sent to [4][NHS England
request email].
Yours sincerely,
Freedom of Information
NHS England
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