Dear Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust,

Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I am writing to request the following information. This information relates to NHS Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response. This information should be readily available as part of the NHS EPRR annual assurance process.

Please note that this is a different request from my previous requests: “EPRR Coordination of emergency and disaster management activities”, “EPRR Planning”, “EPRR Communication and information management” and “EPRR Human Resources”.

For clarity, to minimise the cost of my request and to prevent the disclosure of any sensitive information, I have enumerated the information I am requesting and specified how it could be provided.

Please note that the information requested is only records of the existence of agreements and not the contents of the agreements themselves.

Given the potentially sensitive nature of this information, I ask you to redact any exempt information instead of refusing disclosure. This would be in accordance with guidance on best practice from the Information Commissioner’s Office.

If you do not hold some of this information then I ask you to confirm explicitly that you do not hold it.

Logistics

Agreements with local suppliers and vendors for emergencies and disasters

1. Any record of agreements (e.g. memoranda of understanding, mutual aid agreements) with local suppliers, vendors and utility companies / agencies to ensure procurement and delivery of essential medications, equipment and supplies during times of shortage or increased demand, as in the case of emergencies and disasters. (Can be answered yes / no.)

Thank you for your assistance with this study.

Yours faithfully

William Wetherell

Dear Ms Sheppard

Ref: FOI/22/0673

Thank you for this.

Yours sincerely

William Wetherell