Flexible Working Hours Policy

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust,

1. Please provide your policy on flexible working hours for employees with caring/parental responsibilities which they did not have when they started their current role

2. Please provide the number of requests for flexible working hours * known and referred to as making a 'Statutory Application' have been made by staff working at Southend Hospital for each of the last 3 years
a. Please provide the number of Applications that were successful, partially successful, unsuccessful and/or the data you have relevant to this request

* Source: https://www.gov.uk/flexible-working

Yours faithfully,
Alison Melville

FOI.SUHFT (MID AND SOUTH ESSEX NHS FOUNDATION TRUST), Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Freedom of Information Act Request Acknowledgment   

 

Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information Office at Mid and
South Essex NHS Foundation Trust. This is an automated response that
confirms that we have received your correspondence. 

 

Your request will be considered and you will receive a response within the
statutory timescale of 20 working days following the date on which the
request was received, as defined by the Act, subject to the information
not being covered by an exemption or containing reference to a third
party. 

 

Requests for healthcare records concerning individuals cannot be requested
under the Freedom of Information Act, but must go through the Access to
Records system.  You can find all the information you need here: [1]Access
to health records | Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust
(mse.nhs.uk). 

 

Claims and Potential Claims should be redirected to:

The site teams:

 

Broomfield         [2][email address]

Southend            [3][email address]

Basildon               [4][email address]

 

show quoted sections

FOI.SUHFT (MID AND SOUTH ESSEX NHS FOUNDATION TRUST), Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust

5 Attachments

Dear Ms Melville, 

 

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request dated 15.02.2023, which
has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).   

 

Your request and our response are as follows: 

 

1. Please provide your policy on flexible working hours for employees with
caring/parental responsibilities which they did not have when they started
their current role.

Please find attached:

Flexible Working Policy, which is currently being updated

MSEFT Carer Passport Guidance

MSEDFT Carer Passport Form

 

2. Please provide the number of requests for flexible working hours *
known and referred to as making a 'Statutory Application' have been made
by staff working at Southend Hospital for each of the last 3 years a.
Please provide the number of Applications that were successful, partially
successful, unsuccessful and/or the data you have relevant to this request

 

* Source: [1]Flexible working: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

With regard the above question in the first instance, I would like to
reassure you that it is the Trust’s intention to provide information which
is requested by the public under the provision of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, if the information exists, and no exemptions apply. 

 

We can confirm that the Trust may hold (as defined in the Act) some of the
information you have requested however it is not in a readily retrievable
form.  We do not currently have a single document or central file
containing the specific data that you have requested, and our current
systems are unable to provide a breakdown of data in the exact manner
sought.  We have estimated that it would take more than 18 hours to carry
out a manual search to locate, retrieve, and extract all the information
you have requested.  In this situation the associated cost would therefore
exceed the appropriate fee limit of £450 set out under Freedom of
Information & Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations
2007. 

 

The fee limit specified in regulations for NHS trusts represents the cost
of one person spending 2½ working days at a rate of £25 per hour
determining whether the Trust holds the information sought and then
locating, retrieving and extracting that information.   

 

Having regard to section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act in
circumstances where the fee limit is likely to be exceeded the Trust is
not obliged to respond to the request.  Accordingly, we are sorry but, on
this occasion, we will not be processing your request further.  
 

 

I hope that the response that the Trust has provided is satisfactory. 
However, if you are dissatisfied with the way in which your Freedom of
Information request has been dealt with you can request an internal
review. Please email [MSEFT request email]. within 40 working days with
clarification of what you would like to be reviewed. We will aim to
provide a review response within 20 working days.  

 

If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right under section 50 of the Act
to apply to the Information Commissioner to seek resolution to the matter.
Further details can be found on their website:
[2]https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/. 

 

Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015 – General statement
of compliance 

 

The Trust for its part is happy for you to reuse any of the information
supplied to you in compliance with the Open Government Licence (OGL)
terms:  Please click here for further details
[3]http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents...
.  We do not permit the forwarding or sale of staff/departmental contact
details and a specific Re-use of Information Regulations request is
required for such purposes. 

 

If relevant, you will need the permission of other information owners. 
This can occur when you receive a document which is co-authored or where
the ownership lies with another organisation.  Provision under both the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Environmental Information Regulations
2004 does not entitle you to re-use the information without appropriate
permissions.  Use must be in compliance with an Open Government Licence or
other agreed terms. 

 

Kind regards. 

 

Nicola Frost 

Freedom of Information Manager – MSE Group 

Corporate Governance & Membership Services 

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust
Basildon University Hospital, Nethermayne, Basildon, Essex, SS16 5NL 

Telephone: via email

Email: [4][MSEFT request email] 

 

Visit our website: [5]https://www.mse.nhs.uk/ 

 

Interested in becoming a
Member? [6]https://www.mse.nhs.uk/membership-and-go...

 

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

From: Alison Melville <[FOI #950010 email]>
Sent: 15 February 2023 12:10
To: FOI.SUHFT (MID AND SOUTH ESSEX NHS FOUNDATION TRUST)
<[MSEFT request email]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request 7047 - Flexible Working Hours
Policy
 
[You don't often get email from
[FOI #950010 email]. Learn why this is important at
[7]https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentific... ]

This message originated from outside of NHSmail. Please do not click links
or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know the content
is safe.

Dear Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust,

1. Please provide your policy on flexible working hours for employees with
caring/parental responsibilities which they did not have when they started
their current role

2. Please provide the number of requests for flexible working hours *
known and referred to as making a 'Statutory Application' have been made
by staff working at Southend Hospital for each of the last 3 years
a. Please provide the number of Applications that were successful,
partially successful, unsuccessful and/or the data you have relevant to
this request

* Source:
[8]https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

Yours faithfully,
Alison Melville

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #950010 email]

Is [MSEFT request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust? If so, please
contact us using this form:
[9]https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[10]https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:
[11]https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
[12]https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

show quoted sections

Alison Melville

Dear Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust's handling of my FOI request 'Flexible Working Hours Policy'.

This is because you have not asked me how I could refine my request for the information that I want. Also as a Trust, I would expect you to hold an electronic data system that records this type of information, it is concerning you do not.

Please advise me if Basildon Hospital or Southend Hospital recorded this information and you are able to partially fulfil my FOI request? I would like to advise me how I could refine or reduce the scope of my request so Section 12 does not apply and you are able to provide the information.

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

Yours faithfully,
Alison Melville

FOI.SUHFT (MID AND SOUTH ESSEX NHS FOUNDATION TRUST), Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust

2 Attachments

Dear Ms Melville,
Thank you for your email and I can only apologise on behalf of the trust
that you were dissatisfied with our response to your Freedom of
Information request.

You may be aware that Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust was formed
on 1 April 2020 by merger of Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust (MEHT,
Broomfield), Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation
Trust (BTUH) and Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
(SUHT).  

 

We employ over 16,000 staff and our Trust structure is one of care groups
rather than site based.  Therefore, we do not provide staffing information
by hospital, as we run workforce reports by care groups, with many of our
staff working across sites.  Our workforce systems cover all of our sites,
however, applications for flexible working are managed locally by managers
and are not recorded as flexible working requests on our central system. 
Centrally, we only hold information on appeals against decisions made on
flexible working requests.

 

We note that you would expect the Trust to have an electronic system to
record these, however, we have an electronic rostering system and
electronic employee change forms, which capture any changes to working
hours, however, these may not all be the result of a flexible working
request, and so to identify these, we would need to contact all of our
managers to request the information from across the Trust and collate the
information into a bespoke report, which would collectively take beyond
the time limit. 

 

An alternative may be for you to refine your request to how many flexible
working appeals we had received, as this is the only information we hold
centrally.

Please advise if you wish us to provide thi information.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: 

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office 

Wycliffe House 

Water Lane 

Wilmslow 

Cheshire.  SK9 5AF 

Telephone: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545 700 

Web Address:
[1]https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/off...

 

Yours sincerely, 

 

Nicola Frost 

Freedom of Information Manager – MSE Group 

Corporate Governance & Membership Services 

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust
Basildon University Hospital, Nethermayne, Basildon, Essex, SS16 5NL 

Telephone: via email

Email: [2][MSEFT request email] 

 

Visit our website: [3]https://www.mse.nhs.uk/ 

 

Interested in becoming a
Member? [4]https://www.mse.nhs.uk/membership-and-go...

 

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

From: Alison Melville <[FOI #950010 email]>
Sent: 08 March 2023 19:54
To: FOI.SUHFT (MID AND SOUTH ESSEX NHS FOUNDATION TRUST)
<[MSEFT request email]>
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request 7047 - Flexible
Working Hours Policy
 
[You don't often get email from
[FOI #950010 email]. Learn why this is important at
[5]https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentific... ]

This message originated from outside of NHSmail. Please do not click links
or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know the content
is safe.

Dear Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Mid and South Essex NHS
Foundation Trust's handling of my FOI request 'Flexible Working Hours
Policy'.

This is because you have not asked me how I could refine my request for
the information that I want. Also as a Trust, I would expect you to hold
an electronic data system that records this type of information, it is
concerning you do not.

Please advise me if Basildon Hospital or Southend Hospital recorded this
information and you are able to partially fulfil my FOI request? I would
like to advise me how I could refine or reduce the scope of my request so
Section 12 does not apply and you are able to provide the information.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on
the Internet at this address:
[6]https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

Yours faithfully,
Alison Melville

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #950010 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[7]https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:
[8]https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
[9]https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
From: FOI.SUHFT (MID AND SOUTH ESSEX NHS FOUNDATION TRUST)
<[MSEFT request email]>
Sent: 08 March 2023 13:32
To: Alison Melville <[FOI #950010 email]>
Subject: Re: FOI request 7047 - Flexible Working Hours Policy - response
 

Dear Ms Melville, 

 

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request dated 15.02.2023, which
has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).   

 

Your request and our response are as follows: 

 

1. Please provide your policy on flexible working hours for employees with
caring/parental responsibilities which they did not have when they started
their current role.

Please find attached:

Flexible Working Policy, which is currently being updated

MSEFT Carer Passport Guidance

MSEDFT Carer Passport Form

 

2. Please provide the number of requests for flexible working hours *
known and referred to as making a 'Statutory Application' have been made
by staff working at Southend Hospital for each of the last 3 years 

a. Please provide the number of Applications that were successful,
partially successful, unsuccessful and/or the data you have relevant to
this request

 

* Source: [10]Flexible working: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

With regard the above question in the first instance, I would like to
reassure you that it is the Trust’s intention to provide information which
is requested by the public under the provision of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, if the information exists, and no exemptions apply. 

 

We can confirm that the Trust may hold (as defined in the Act) some of the
information you have requested however it is not in a readily retrievable
form.  We do not currently have a single document or central file
containing the specific data that you have requested, and our current
systems are unable to provide a breakdown of data in the exact manner
sought.  We have estimated that it would take more than 18 hours to carry
out a manual search to locate, retrieve, and extract all the information
you have requested.  In this situation the associated cost would
therefore exceed the appropriate fee limit of £450 set out under Freedom
of Information & Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations
2007. 

 

The fee limit specified in regulations for NHS trusts represents the cost
of one person spending 2½ working days at a rate of £25 per hour
determining whether the Trust holds the information sought and then
locating, retrieving and extracting that information.   

 

Having regard to section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act in
circumstances where the fee limit is likely to be exceeded the Trust is
not obliged to respond to the request.  Accordingly, we are sorry but, on
this occasion, we will not be processing your request further.  
 

 

I hope that the response that the Trust has provided is satisfactory. 
However, if you are dissatisfied with the way in which your Freedom of
Information request has been dealt with you can request an internal
review. Please email [MSEFT request email]. within 40 working days with
clarification of what you would like to be reviewed. We will aim to
provide a review response within 20 working days.  

 

If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right under section 50 of the Act
to apply to the Information Commissioner to seek resolution to the matter.
Further details can be found on their
website: [11]https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/. 

 

Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015 – General statement
of compliance 

 

The Trust for its part is happy for you to reuse any of the information
supplied to you in compliance with the Open Government Licence (OGL)
terms:  Please click here for further
details [12]http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents...
We do not permit the forwarding or sale of staff/departmental contact
details and a specific Re-use of Information Regulations request is
required for such purposes. 

 

If relevant, you will need the permission of other information owners. 
This can occur when you receive a document which is co-authored or where
the ownership lies with another organisation.  Provision under both the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Environmental Information Regulations
2004 does not entitle you to re-use the information without appropriate
permissions.  Use must be in compliance with an Open Government Licence or
other agreed terms. 

 

Kind regards. 

 

Nicola Frost 

Freedom of Information Manager – MSE Group 

Corporate Governance & Membership Services 

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust
Basildon University Hospital, Nethermayne, Basildon, Essex, SS16 5NL 

Telephone: via email

Email: [MSEFT request email] 

 

Visit our website: [13]https://www.mse.nhs.uk/ 

 

Interested in becoming a
Member? [14]https://www.mse.nhs.uk/membership-and-go...

 

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

From: Alison Melville <[FOI #950010 email]>
Sent: 15 February 2023 12:10
To: FOI.SUHFT (MID AND SOUTH ESSEX NHS FOUNDATION TRUST)
<[MSEFT request email]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request 7047 - Flexible Working Hours
Policy
 
[You don't often get email from
[FOI #950010 email]. Learn why this is important
at [15]https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentific...

This message originated from outside of NHSmail. Please do not click links
or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know the content
is safe.

Dear Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust,

1. Please provide your policy on flexible working hours for employees with
caring/parental responsibilities which they did not have when they started
their current role

2. Please provide the number of requests for flexible working hours *
known and referred to as making a 'Statutory Application' have been made
by staff working at Southend Hospital for each of the last 3 years
a. Please provide the number of Applications that were successful,
partially successful, unsuccessful and/or the data you have relevant to
this request

*
Source: [16]https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

Yours faithfully,
Alison Melville

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #950010 email]

Is [MSEFT request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust? If so, please
contact us using this form:
[17]https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[18]https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:
[19]https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
[20]https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

show quoted sections

Dear FOI.SUHFT (MID AND SOUTH ESSEX NHS FOUNDATION TRUST),

In consideration to your response, I can confirm that I would like to refine my request to how many flexible
working appeals you have received because I understand this is the only information you hold centrally.

Please can you provide the total figure by way of supplying a number for each care group?

Yours sincerely,
Alison Melville

Alison Melville

Dear FOI.SUHFT (MID AND SOUTH ESSEX NHS FOUNDATION TRUST),

I look forward to receiving the information sought in my email sent on 23 March.

Yours sincerely,

Alison Melville

Alison Melville

Dear FOI.SUHFT (MID AND SOUTH ESSEX NHS FOUNDATION TRUST),

I refer to my email here:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/f...

Apologies I got the date wrong in my last email.

Yours sincerely,

Alison Melville

FOI.SUHFT (MID AND SOUTH ESSEX NHS FOUNDATION TRUST), Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust

2 Attachments

Dear Ms Melville,

 

Thank you for the follow-up question dated 17 March 2023, to your Freedom
of Information request below.

 

Your updated request and our response are as follows:

 

Your request:

 

I would like to refine my request to how many flexible working appeals you
have received because I understand this is the only information you hold
centrally.

 

Please can you provide the total figure by way of supplying a number for
each care group?

 

Our response:

 

Please note that under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, any data that
is below five would be deemed identifiable under section 40(2) of the Act.
Releasing this information could lead to the identification of the
individuals.  Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, any data that
could lead to the identification of the individuals is exempt from
disclosure under section 40 (Personal Information) of the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA), as the information constitutes personal data of a
third party.

Section 40(2) provides that personal data about third parties is exempt
information if one of the conditions set out in section 40(3) is
satisfied. Under the FOIA, disclosure of this information would breach the
fair processing principles contained in the Data Protection Act
2018/General Data Protection Regulation where it would be unfair to that
person. 

 

For these reasons, we are not able to provide a more detailed response
below.

 

For each of the three years, we have had fewer than 5 flexible working
appeals.  We have therefore not been able to break down the number by care
group.  Even if we total them all by care group for the three years
collectively, for each care group there are fewer than 5 and for some
there are no appeals.  Therefore, the combined response is:

 

2020/2021: fewer than 5 for the whole trust.

2021/2022: fewer than 5 for the whole trust.

2022/2023: fewer than 5 for the whole trust.

                                                                       

The total for the whole trust for the three year period is seven appeals,
one of which was withdrawn, leaving six.

 

I hope that the response that the Trust has provided is satisfactory. 
However, if you are dissatisfied with the way in which your Freedom of
Information request has been dealt with you can request an internal
review. Please email [1][MSEFT request email] within 40 working days with
clarification of what you would like to be reviewed. We will aim to
provide a review response within 20 working days.

 

If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right under section 50 of the Act
to apply to the Information Commissioner to seek resolution to the matter.
Further details can be found on their website:
[2]https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/.

 

Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015 – General statement
of compliance

 

The Trust for its part is happy for you to reuse any of the information
supplied to you in compliance with the Open Government Licence (OGL)
terms:  Please click here for further details
[3]http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents...
.  We do not permit the forwarding or sale of staff/departmental contact
details and a specific Re-use of Information Regulations request is
required for such purposes.

 

If relevant, you will need the permission of other information owners. 
This can occur when you receive a document which is co-authored or where
the ownership lies with another organisation.  Provision under both the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Environmental Information Regulations
2004 does not entitle you to re-use the information without appropriate
permissions.  Use must be in compliance with an Open Government Licence or
other agreed terms.

 

Kind regards,

 

Alan Larn.

 

Freedom of Information – MSE Group 

Corporate Governance & Membership Services 

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Email: [4][MSEFT request email] 

 

Visit our website: [5]https://www.mse.nhs.uk/ 

 

Interested in becoming a Member?
[6]https://www.mse.nhs.uk/membership-and-go...

 

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear FOI.SUHFT (MID AND SOUTH ESSEX NHS FOUNDATION TRUST),

Thank you for coming back to me.

Please can you provide a breakdown of the figure of 7 appeals (1 withdrawn) by each hospital within your trust

Yours sincerely,

Alison Melville