Freedom of Information request - Staff Counselling Services and Occupational Health Referrals

The request was successful.

Dear University of Hull,

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, could you please provide me with the following information:

COUNSELLING AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES - UNIVERSITY STAFF

1. The total number of staff that accessed University counselling and mental health services in the last eight academic years (please present in a table showing figures for each academic year and breakdown by category (e.g. anxiety, bereavement loss, work-related etc...))

a) How many were academic staff?
b) How many were professional services staff?
c) How many were male?
d) How many were female?

2. Where data are available in the last eight years, please detail what was the average wait time for a staff member applying to see a counsellor to seeing a counsellor?

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

3. During the last eight academic years how many staff members were referred to Occupational Health (please highlight whether these were self-referrals, management referrals, or referrals falling into different categories)?

a) How many were academic staff?
b) How many were professional services staff?
c) How many were male?
d) How many were female?

4. How many staff members are currently on the waiting list to see Occupational Health?

If the decision is made to withhold some of this data using exemptions in the Data Protection Act, please inform me of that fact and cite the exemptions used.

If you need any clarification then please do not hesitate to contact me. If some parts of this request are easier to answer than others, I would ask that you release the available data as soon as possible.

I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received this request, and I look forward to hearing from you within the 20 working day statutory time period.

Yours faithfully,

Nicky Michaels

Dan Palmer-Dunk, University of Hull

5 Attachments

Dear Applicant,

 

Further to your below request I can confirm that the University holds some
of the requested information.  However, I can also advise you that some
information is not (having exceed its retention period or not having been
recorded at all), it has also been estimated that to locate and extract
some of the information would exceed the cost threshold as set out by
section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) and its
associated Regulations.  The information you have requested in parts 1)a)
and b) and 3)a) and b) is held by the University, but not within the same
system.  As such, to ascertain a client’s gender and whether they worked
in academic or professional services would involve reading through
hundreds of files over the period of your request (eight years).

 

Pursuant to section 16 of the Act I am required to offer you advice and
assistance in order to refine your request.  I can advise you that we
could provide full information for the first part of your request for the
years 2011/12-2015/16.  We could also provide the number of clients for
the 2010/11 year, the number of clients and number of sessions for
2009/10, but no longer hold any information for 2008/09.  I could also
provide some information on the reasons for attending for 2011/12-2015/16,
although some reasons might be exempt as personal information (where they
do not fall onto a generic category).  We could also provide information
on the number of referrals to Occupational Health for each year covered by
your request.  

 

Furthermore, the Occupational Health team do not collect wait time
information for counselling, as this service is provided by an external
partner.  There is no waiting list for Occupational Health, as all
referrals are triaged within two working days.

 

Please let me know if you wish to refine your request.

 

The University follows guidance issued by the Information Commissioner’s
Office when dealing with FoI requests and, as such, once one part of a
request is identified as exceeding the cost limit no other parts are
answered.  To answer any remaining parts once it has been identified that
section 12 is engaged would be to refine the request on behalf of the
requester, thereby denying them the full exercise of their rights in this
regard (para. 32 at:
[1]https://ico.org.uk/media/fororganisation...

 

Your request is subject to the terms of the Freedom of Information Act
2000.  Under these terms, you have the right of complaint.  Your initial
course of action should be through the University’s own complaints
procedure.  In the first instance please contact [2][email address] or the
University Registrar and Secretary, University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX
within 20 days from the date of this email.

 

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint,
you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at: The
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF.  Phone: 0303 123 1113  Website: [3]www.ico.gov.uk. 
There is no charge for making an appeal.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Dan

 

 

[4]cid:image001.jpg@01D2EE69.89A71150 Dan Palmer-Dunk | Information Compliance Officer | Governance &
Compliance

University of Hull

Hull, HU6 7RX, UK

[5]www.hull.ac.uk

[6][email address] | 01482 466594

[7]cid:image002.png@01D2EE69.89A71150  [8]@UniOfHull    
[9]cid:image003.png@01D2EE69.89A71150  [10]/UniversityOfHull   
[11]cid:image004.png@01D2EE69.89A71150  [12]universityofhull

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear Dan Palmer-Dunk,
Thanks for this - I'd be so grateful if you could provide the information that you indicate in your response that you are able to provide.
Yours sincerely,

Nicky Michaels

Kayleigh Wilson, University of Hull

2 Attachments

Dear Nicky

 

Please find our response to your refined Freedom of Information request
attached.

 

You may wish to note that the percentage of males to females who accessed
counselling has been included in the attached table where it was found to
be available, and hopefully you will find this of some use.

 

We have  provided information on the reasons for attending for
2011/12-2015/16, however some reasons have been aggregated under the
heading 'other' as the specific reasons are exempt under section 40 (2) of
the Freedom of Information Act 200 (the Act). This exemption covers the
personal data of third parties where complying with the request would
breach any of the principles in the Data Protection Act.

 

Your request is subject to the terms of the Freedom of Information Act
2000.  Under these terms, you have the right of complaint.  Your initial
course of action should be through the University’s own complaints
procedure.  In the first instance please contact [1][email address] or the
University Registrar and Secretary, University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX
within 20 days from the date of this email.

 

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint,
you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at: The
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF.  Phone: 0303 123 1113  Website: [2]www.ico.gov.uk. 
There is no charge for making an appeal.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Kayleigh Wilson

 

 

Kayleigh Wilson | Information Compliance Officer | Governance and
Compliance

University of Hull

Hull, HU6 7RX, UK

[3]www.hull.ac.uk

[4][email address] | 01482 463127

  @UniOfHull       /UniversityOfHull      universityofhull

 

 

 

 

 

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