Dear Michael Bridger, 

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-2407-2122698.

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 Michael Bridger ,

We are writing with regard to your Freedom of Information (FOI) request
dated 15/07/2024 08:00 .

Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to your request.
NHS England is not in a position to respond to your request at this time.
We are still in the process of assessing your request and will provide you
with a full response as soon as possible.
 
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. Please be aware that
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 Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK95AF
 
Telephone:0303 123 1113
Email:[1][email address]
Website:[2]www.ico.gov.uk
 
Please do not reply to this email. This message has been sent from a
central mailbox. To communicate with NHS England regarding Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests, enquiries or complaints we ask these are sent
directly to NHS England’s customer contact centre. This is to ensure all
communications are progressed correctly. Their postal address, telephone
number and email details are as follows:

PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT;
0300 3 11 2233,
[3][NHS England request email].
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Freedom of Information
Corporate Communications Team
Transformation and Corporate Operations Directorate
 
NHS England
PO Box 16738
REDDITCH
B979PT
 
Tel:0300 311 22 33
Email:[4][NHS England request email]
 
‘Health and high quality care for all, now and for future generations’

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Dear Michael Bridger,

We refer to your email of 15 July 2024 in which you requested information
under the Freedom of Information Act from NHS England. We apologise for
the delay in responding to your request.

Your request

You made the following request:

I am writing to request copies of e-mail correspondence between members of
your ""MAP Oversight Board"" and the General Medical Council regarding
Medical Associate Professionals.

Please can you provide copies of emails which:

- Contain the keywords ""physician associate"" or ""physician associates""
or ""medical associate professional"" or ""anaesthesia associate""
- Were sent or received from the General Medical Council. The email domain
is @gmc-uk.org
- Time limit: the last 3 months*

Decision

NHS England holds the information you have requested but has decided to
withhold some information under section 40(2) of the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA).

Please find attached emails from NHS England MAP Board Members to GMC
Board Members. Please note that these have been redacted under section
40(2) of the FOIA. Please also note that when an email contained an
attachment, we have put both together in one folder.

Our FOI policy at NHSE is to disclose the names and job titles of only
internal NHSE staff members who are in a position of seniority. It is our
policy to redact the names and job titles of external members of staff
unless they have provided consent or if their names are already in the
public domain in the same capacity. In this case, the information you have
requested contained information relating to both non- NHS England staff as
well as non-senior NHS England staff, therefore we are exempting the
information for release under section 40(2) of the FOIA. We have also
redacted all personal e-mail addresses.

Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act (2000) 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. This is on the
grounds that it amounts to personal data and 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. 
 
We consider that the disclosure of this information could breach an
individual’s confidentiality, as there is a risk that individuals may be
identified if this data is put together with other information that is, or
may become, available on that individual. 
 
We believe this would cause unnecessary or unjustified distress or damage
to the individuals in question and would therefore contravene the
principles of ‘fairness’ as defined in the Data Protection Act. Section 40
is an absolute exemption and consideration of the public interest test in
disclosure is not required. 

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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