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Dear J Roberts

 

Your information request: FDN-242023

 

I am writing in response to your Freedom of Information request dated 2
December 2015. I have responded to your requests below.

 

1.   Please provide details of the number of FOI requests you have
received in each of the past 12 months.

 

At annex A please find attached a table of data showing the number of
information requests we received per month between 1 November 2014 and 30
November 2015. The data we collect on information requests falls into two
categories:

 

·         Case related information requests which comprise requests for
information from a complaint case file. These are responded to line with
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and/or the Data Protection Act
1998 (subject access) and the Ombudsman’s legislations – the Health
Service Commissioners Act 1993 or Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967.

 

·         Non case related information requests (e.g. information requests
for PHSO’s corporate information unavailable via our publication scheme)
which are responded to solely under the FOIA or the Environment
Information Regulations 2004.

 

 

1b. For each month, please indicate the number you have received through
the 'whatdotheyknow' website.

 

We do not routinely collect data about the number of information requests
we receive via [1]www.whatdotheyknow.com. We would need to manually check
the 666 information requests we received in this period to determine if
the request was submitted through the website.

 

However the information you have requested is already publically available
on the whatdotheyknow.com website and as such the exemption under section
21 FOIA (information reasonably accessible to the applicant by other
means) applies.  You may be aware that, you can search the number of
requests PHSO received in a particular month through the
whatdotheyknow.com website by using their date search field ‘made between’
on the right hand side of the webpage.

 

PHSO page on [2]www.whatdotheyknow.com:
[3]www.whatdotheyknow.com/body/parliamentary_and_health_service_ombudsman?commit=Search&page=2&query=&request_date_after=2015%2F12%2F01&request_date_before=2015%2F12%2F31&utf8=%E2%9C%93.

 

 

2.   Please provide in a PDF a copy of all FOI requests you have received
and responses you have given in the past 12 months (do not include those
made through 'whatdotheyknow'). List the requests in chronological order
and redact all necessary information to ensure compliance with relevant
legislation.

 

We consider this part of your request to be vexatious under section 14(1)
FOIA; as such and in line with the Act we are not obliged to comply with
your request for information.

 

There is no public interest test involved in applying section 14(1) FOIA
to your information request, however when considering whether it was
vexatious we took into account the Information Commissioner’s Freedom of
Information guidance [4]‘Dealing with vexatious requests (section 14)’ and
the Court of Appeal Case [5]Dransfield v Information Commissioner and
Devon County Council [2015] EWCA Civ 454 (14 May 2015).

 

The guidance states section 14(1) FOIA is designed to protect public
authorities by allowing them to refuse any requests which have the
potential to cause a disproportionate or unjustified level of disruption,
irritation or distress.

 

We believe that complying with your information request for a copy of all
FOI requests we received and responded to in the last twelve months would
require a disproportionate amount of time and effort.

 

When assessing the purpose and value of your request we took into account
our responsibilities as a public authority in being transparent and open,
and the public’s right to know about information we hold.

 

However, we also took into account the fact that we receive a number of
case-related information requests from complainants and/or their
representatives. To release their requests and our responses into the
public domain would require a considerable amount of time and effort to
diligently to remove all personal data and case file information in line
with information access legislation and the ombudsman’s legislations.

 

We have calculated it would take more than 2.5 working days or 18 hours to
review and prepare the information for disclosure which would be hugely
burdensome on PHSO, and therefore disproportionate.

 

Notwithstanding the work we would need to carry out to provide you with
copies of our case-related information requests, much of the information
we disclose under FOIA is available online on our website at:
[6]www.ombudsman.org.uk and the whatdotheyknow.com website.

 

The PHSO is committed to meeting its obligations under FOIA and endeavours
to be as transparent and open as possible. We have an online publication
scheme on our website at
[7]www.ombudsman.org.uk/about-us/being-open-and-transparent/our-publication-scheme
where we routinely publish corporate information. We also publish
information requests and responses that are of wider public interest under
our disclosure log at:
[8]www.ombudsman.org.uk/about-us/being-open-and-transparent/disclosure-log.
The next batch of information disclosures will be available online at the
end of January 2016.

 

I am sorry I could not provide all of the information you requested.
However, if you have any questions about the data released please do not
hesitate to contact me.

 

If you are unhappy with how I have processed your information request you
can request an internal review by writing to
[9][email address].

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Sohifa Kadir

Freedom of Information and Data Protection Officer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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All email communications with PHSO pass through the Government Secure
Intranet, and may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for
legal purposes.
The MessageLabs Anti Virus Service is the first managed service to achieve
the CSIA Claims Tested Mark (CCTM Certificate Number 2006/04/0007), the UK
Government quality mark initiative for information security products and
services. For more information about this please visit www.cctmark.gov.uk

References

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