Information on the DoLS
Dear Health and Social Care Information Centre,
Re: Mental Capacity Act 2005 Deprivation of liberty safeguards
I am looking for information about a) third party requests to assess whether an unlawful deprivation of liberty is occurring, and b) reviews of authorisations under the deprivation of liberty safeguards. The annual release of DoLS data, from the Health and Social Care Information Centre, states that data on these are collected but not currently published.
Ideally I would like the following data for each local authority and PCT in order to examine variations between supervisory bodies and their relationship with other variables such as the number of applications and authorisations. However, if this is not possible then please could you provide it at the national or regional level.
Please could you provide me with data, going back as far as it is collected, for:
a) the number of 3rd party requests which were made to assess whether there is an unauthorised deprivation of liberty
b) the number of these 3rd party requests which lead to full
assessment.
c) the number of reviews of authorisations under the DoLS which were requested, and who the instigator of that request is.
d) if this data is collected, the number of reviews which led to a termination of the deprivation of liberty authorisation.
If it is not possible to provide data at the level of the
supervisory body, please could you provide any summary statistics you hold for the above mentioned variables (e.g. median, mean, mode, standard deviation, range, interquartile range, etc). If you hold any summary statistics on their relationship to other variables - for example to the number of applications or authorisations for each local authority - please could you provide these as well.
Yours faithfully,
Lucy Series
Ref: NIC-216891-Q1K9V
Dear Lucy Series,
I am writing to acknowledge that your request for information was received
by The Health and Social Care Information Centre on 28/08/2013 and is
currently being considered. If The HSCIC is able to provide you with the
information you have requested, then under the Freedom of Information
(FOI) Act you are entitled to receive it promptly and in any event no
later than the 20th working day following the date of receipt. However,
we may need to contact you to clarify your request, if this is required we
aim to do this promptly but no later than 7 days after receiving your
initial request for information.
May I take this opportunity to explain the FOI Act in more detail. The Act
provides a 'General right of access to information held by public
authorities. However, it also defines a number of exemptions which may
prevent the release of some or all of the information you have requested.
Therefore, the HSCIC will assess your information request in light of any
relevant exemptions.
If exemptions do apply, then the HSCIC may decide not to release all, or
part, of the information you have requested. I shall inform you if this is
the case, and advise you of your rights of appeal.
If the information you request contains reference to a third party then
they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken as to whether to
release the information to you.
The response to your request will be sent to you by email, however if you
require your response in any other format, please contact me to discuss a
suitable format.
The HSCIC will not normally charge a fee to provide you with the
information you have requested, unless the cost of dealing with your
request is more than £450 as outlined in Section 12 of the FOI Act and
Section 3 of the The FOI and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees)
Regulations 2004. If it appears likely that your request will cost more,
then the HSCIC is able to refuse to supply the information. As per our
obligations under Section 16 of the FOI Act, every effort will be made to
provide you with details of how you may be able to reframe your request in
order for us to complete the required work within the (£450 / 18 person
hours) cost limit.
If you have any queries or should you wish to make a compliant about the
manner in which your request is being processed then please do not
hesitate to contact me at the above address in the first instance. Any
complaints will be investigated in accordance with the HSCIC complaints
procedure.
Further information about your rights under the Freedom of Information
Act, is available from the Information Commissioner's Office, Wilmslow,
Cheshire and on the HSCIC's website.
Kind Regards,
Contact Centre Team
Health and Social Care Information Centre
Vantage House
40 Aire Street
Leeds
LS1 4HT
0845 300 6016
Email: [1][email address]
[2]http://www.hscic.gov.uk
Dear Lucy Series,
Further to your recent request "Freedom of Information request -
Information on the DoLS" received on 29/08/2013 12:12.
Please be assured that we are working towards a resolution and hope to
respond as soon possible.
If you have any queries regarding this request, please contact us quoting
reference number NIC-216891-Q1K9V
Kind Regards,
Contact Centre Team
Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)
Tel: 08453006016
Email: [1][email address]
Web: [2]www.hscic.gov.uk
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email%20address]
2. http://www.hscic.gov.uk/
Dear Lucy Series,
Further to your recent request "Freedom of Information request -
Information on the DoLS" received on 29/08/2013 12:12.
Please be assured that we are working towards a resolution and hope to
respond as soon possible.
If you have any queries regarding this request, please contact us quoting
reference number NIC-216891-Q1K9V
Kind Regards,
Contact Centre Team
Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)
Tel: 08453006016
Email: [1][email address]
Web: [2]www.hscic.gov.uk
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email%20address]
2. http://www.hscic.gov.uk/
Dear Lucy Series,
Further to your recent request "Freedom of Information request -
Information on the DoLS" received on 29/08/2013 12:12.
Please be assured that we are working towards a resolution and hope to
respond as soon possible.
If you have any queries regarding this request, please contact us quoting
reference number NIC-216891-Q1K9V
Kind Regards,
Contact Centre Team
Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)
Tel: 08453006016
Email: [1][email address]
Web: [2]www.hscic.gov.uk
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email%20address]
2. http://www.hscic.gov.uk/
Dear Lucy Series,
Further to your recent request "Freedom of Information request -
Information on the DoLS" received on 29/08/2013 12:12.
Please be assured that we are working towards a resolution and hope to
respond as soon possible.
If you have any queries regarding this request, please contact us quoting
reference number NIC-216891-Q1K9V
Kind Regards,
Contact Centre Team
Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)
Tel: 08453006016
Email: [1][email address]
Web: [2]www.hscic.gov.uk
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email%20address]
2. http://www.hscic.gov.uk/
Ref: NIC-216891-Q1K9V
Dear Lucy,
Many thanks for your enquiry, please find our full response attached.
Kind Regards,
Joanne Vause
Contact Centre Team
Health and Social Care Information Centre
1 Trevelyan Square
Boar Lane
Leeds
LS1 6AE
0845 300 6016
Email: [1][email address]
[2]http://www.hscic.gov.uk
Dear Ms Vause,
Thank you very much for taking the time to provide me with this information, I am very grateful to the HSCIC for doing so.
I regret troubling you further, but the information provided is at the regional level and not the level of the local authority. If the data is held at the level of the local authority, I would still like to request this. This is because the regional data will collapse together data from different supervisory bodies potentially masking considerable variations. Furthermore, I had hoped to run some analyses linking the number of reviews and third party requests to the number of applications and authorisations (which are routinely provided at the supervisory body level), and I cannot do this with regional data.
If the HSCIC is unable to supply local authority level data, please could you let me know which exemption under the FOIA it is relying on? Please could I seek a review of the decision not to provide me with this information.
I am sorry to put you and your colleagues to more trouble, but it is difficult to examine in detail how the review and referral mechanisms are operating with the regional data.
Yours sincerely,
Lucy Series
Ref: NIC-222986-V2J9N
Dear Lucy,
Many thanks for your recent Freedom of Information internal
review request.
We have now received a reply to this from our colleagues in the
Information Governance team.
Please see the attached file.
Hope this helps.
Kind Regards,
Contact Centre Team
Health and Social Care Information Centre
1 Trevelyan Square
Boar Lane
Leeds
LS1 6AE
0845 300 6016
Email: [1][email address]
[2]http://www.hscic.gov.uk
Dear HSCIC Officer,
Thank you for taking the time to consider my request. My understanding is that my request for data at the level of the local authority has been refused on grounds that 'the information would contain small numbers which could lead to the identification of individuals or of personal sensitive information and is therefore exempt from release under Section 40 of Act – Personal Information.'
I wonder if I could kindly request that your colleagues reconsider this, since the risk of identification of individuals from a mere number seems - to me - improbably small. There is guidance from the ONS (Office for National Statistics (2006) Review of the Dissemination of Health Statistics: Confidentiality Guidance) and the Information Commissioner's Office (http://www.ico.org.uk/foikb/PolicyLines/...) which emphasises that data should not be witheld merely on the basis that the numbers are small, but by considering whether 'a member of the general public can, on the balance of probabilities, identify individuals by cross-referencing the anonymised data with other information that was available to them'. I really cannot see how any member of the public could do this in these cases - unlike the late term abortion cases, there is no other information about people subject to DoLS in the public domain which could be used to link them to these data.
Would it be possible to explain how they arrived at the view that there was a risk of publication, in reviewing my request? If there really is a risk, then an ad hoc arrangement would be desirable, but I would prefer that the data could be publicly available, as if there is a 'postcode lottery' in how local authorities are applying the DoLS, this is a matter which is in the public interest.
Yours sincerely,
Lucy Series
Dear Lucy Series,
Thank you for contacting the HSCIC, your enquiry Internal review of
Freedom of Information request - Information on the DoLS received
on 24/10/2013 11:21 has been logged and we will do our best to resolve
this as soon as possible.
Please quote reference number NIC-229563-L1R8J on all future
communications regarding this enquiry.
Kind Regards,
Contact Centre Team
Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)
Tel: 08453006016
Email: [1][email address]
Web: [2]www.hscic.gov.uk
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email%20address]
2. http://www.hscic.gov.uk/
Dear HSCIC,
Thank you very much, I look forward to receiving your response.
Yours sincerely,
Lucy Series
Dear Lucy Series,
Further to your recent request "Internal review of Freedom of Information
request - Information on the DoLS" received on 24/10/2013 11:21.
Please be assured that we are working towards a resolution and hope to
respond as soon possible.
If you have any queries regarding this request, please contact us quoting
reference number NIC-229563-L1R8J
Kind Regards,
Contact Centre Team
Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)
Tel: 08453006016
Email: [1][email address]
Web: [2]www.hscic.gov.uk
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email%20address]
2. http://www.hscic.gov.uk/
Dear Lucy Series,
Further to your recent request "Internal review of Freedom of Information
request - Information on the DoLS" received on 24/10/2013 11:21.
Please be assured that we are working towards a resolution and hope to
respond as soon possible.
If you have any queries regarding this request, please contact us quoting
reference number NIC-229563-L1R8J
Kind Regards,
Contact Centre Team
Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)
Tel: 08453006016
Email: [1][email address]
Web: [2]www.hscic.gov.uk
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email%20address]
2. http://www.hscic.gov.uk/
Dear Lucy Series,
Further to your recent request "Internal review of Freedom of Information
request - Information on the DoLS" received on 24/10/2013 11:21.
Please be assured that we are working towards a resolution and hope to
respond as soon possible.
If you have any queries regarding this request, please contact us quoting
reference number NIC-229563-L1R8J
Kind Regards,
Contact Centre Team
Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)
Tel: 08453006016
Email: [1][email address]
Web: [2]www.hscic.gov.uk
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email%20address]
2. http://www.hscic.gov.uk/
Dear Lucy Series,
Further to your recent request "Internal review of Freedom of Information
request - Information on the DoLS" received on 24/10/2013 11:21.
Please be assured that we are working towards a resolution and hope to
respond as soon possible.
If you have any queries regarding this request, please contact us quoting
reference number NIC-229563-L1R8J
Kind Regards,
Contact Centre Team
Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)
Tel: 08453006016
Email: [1][email address]
Web: [2]www.hscic.gov.uk
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email%20address]
2. http://www.hscic.gov.uk/
Ref: NIC-229563-L1R8J
Dear Lucy,
Please find attached response and Information from our Information
Governance Team regarding your Freedon of Information Request.
Kind Regards,
Jean Penrose
Contact Centre Team
Health and Social Care Information Centre
1 Trevelyan Square
Boar Lane
Leeds
LS1 6AE
0845 300 6016
Email: [1][email address]
[2]http://www.hscic.gov.uk
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References
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Dear Health and Social Care Information Centre,
Thank you very much for your help in providing me with this data, it is much appreciated.
Yours sincerely,
Lucy Series
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liz jones left an annotation ()
I hope this information will arrive well before the following commitee on the 14th http://www.parliament.uk/business/commit...