Dear Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust,

Freedom of Information request - Direct Engagement of Locum Staff using third parties

I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I would be interested in any information held by your organisation regarding my request. I understand that I do not have to specify particular files or documents and it is the departments responsibility to provide the information I require. If you need further clarification please contact me via this website (or email). I would like to request the following information:
1. Does your organization use a Direct Engagement scheme?
2. If so, who provides it? And when did you start using it?
3. Did you take external legal advice before entering into it and, if so, from whom did you take external legal advice?
4. What has your total locum/temporary staffing spend since you started using the scheme? If you started using the scheme before April 2017 please also state the total locum/temporary staffing spend since April 2017.
5. How does the third party direct engagement facilitator save you money on the agency spend? Please answer in short point form
6. How much has been paid to the third party direct engagement facilitator thus far?
7. Was this payment calculated as a percentage of the savings generated by employing the services of the third party direct engagement facilitator? If so, what percentage is this?

I would like the information to be provided by email or on this website in electronic form. If my request is denied in whole or in part I ask that you justify all deletions by reference to specific exemptions of the act. I will also expect you to release all non-exempt material. I reserve the right to appeal your decision to withhold any information or to charge excessive fees. I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received this request. I look forward to your response within 20 working days as outlined by the statute. Many thanks for your assistance with this request.

Yours faithfully,

Dr Colin Iain Campbell MBChB FRSPH

Dear Royal Surrey County Hospital 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 Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust's handling of my FOI request 'Freedom of Information request - Direct Engagement of Locum Staff using third parties'.

I note the undertaking in your reply to my FOI of 15th May to reply within the statutory 20 day timeline. There has been no communication since and many other trusts have even replied to this request early. Should more time have been required you are supposed to communicate this in writing prior to the timeline expiring. Your handling of this has clearly not been 'prompt' and a reply is long overdue.

I would remind you that under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 you should have repied within 20 days and that disclosure should be prompt.

Kindly reply disclosing all the information required today by internal review. I will be deciding based on the quality of response provided whether to escalate this breach of your statutory obligations to the information comissioner's office.

------FURTHER FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST -------------
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 please disclose:

1) All internal minutes, emails, discussions, or records connected with the handling of my original freedom of information act request above.
2) Please include the minutes of any meetings, including but not limited to board meetings, at which this was discussed.
3) Please include any chasers which may or may not have been sent by the Information Governance Team to departments.

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,

Dr Colin Iain Campbell MBChB FRSPH

Dear FreedomOfInformation (ROYAL SURREY COUNTY HOSPITAL NHS FOUNDATION TRUST),

Thank you for acknowledging the initial FOI.

I trust I will hear from you shortly regarding the internal review into the breach of your statutory duties under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in respect of my original request.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Colin Iain Campbell MBChB FRSPH

Dear Royal Surrey County Hospital 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 Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust's handling of my FOI request 'Freedom of Information request - Direct Engagement of Locum Staff using third parties'.

FIRST INTERNAL REVIEW (ORIGINAL FOI REQUEST):

I would like you to revisit how the direct engagement scheme saves you money. The answer has alluded to, rather than disclosed, the effect on your tax position specifically with respect to Value Added Tax. Could the trust please confirm that, as a result of the use of the scheme, they avoid paying VAT on locum bills with would otherwise be VATable as a supply of workers?

Could the trust further confirm that the purported VAT exemption occurs because a 'healthcare service' or 'medical service' is being procured from the Direct Engagement provider you have named.

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

SECOND INTERNAL REVIEW REQUEST:

My second freedom of information act request, of 12th July 2018, has not been responded to (please see email chain) reproduced here:

"------FURTHER FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST -------------
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 please disclose:

1) All internal minutes, emails, discussions, or records connected with the handling of my original freedom of information act request above.
2) Please include the minutes of any meetings, including but not limited to board meetings, at which this was discussed.
3) Please include any chasers which may or may not have been sent by the Information Governance Team to departments.
"

I am hopeful this is simple oversight/human error. However this is the second of two FOIs where the act has been breached by failure to reply promptly here. Please disclose this information urgently. Should disclosure occur quickly I will consider not reporting this to the ICO as I am sympathetic to human error.

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,

Dr Colin Iain Campbell MBChB FRSPH

Dear FreedomOfInformation (ROYAL SURREY COUNTY HOSPITAL NHS FOUNDATION TRUST),

Many thanks.

Note also the additional FOI request at the end of the internal review.

Can you confirm you've spotted it please!

Many thanks to the information governance department for the important work you undertake in ensuring open government.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Colin Iain Campbell MBChB FRSPH

Dear FreedomOfInformation (ROYAL SURREY COUNTY HOSPITAL NHS FOUNDATION TRUST),

The response is incorrect/incomplete we have answers from lots of trusts in this point, and original sales literature. If a full answer is not provided I will write to the Information Commissioner to complain.

Someone you are speaking to for answers is seeking to conceal the fact that the scheme allows the trust to avoid paying VAT by providing vague answers.

I will allow two days for clarification if not I will submit the required form to the information commissioner about what could apear to be an deceitfully incomplete answer.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Colin Iain Campbell MBChB FRSPH