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IT & TELCOMS

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Dear Health Education England,

Please provide a full breakdown of all equipment/services and existing contracts in the following areas. Please include existing supplier, product name, contract value and contract end date:

1. Telephone Lines
2. Telephone Calls
3. Wide Area Network
4. LAN Equipment
5. LAN Maintenance
6. Desktop Hardware
7. Desktop Management Services
8. Contact Centre
9. IPT/Switch Equipment
10. IPT/Switch Maintenance
11. Print Services
12. Cloud/hosted Data Centre
13. On premise Data Centre
14. Audio Conferencing
15. Web Conferencing
16. Video Conferencing
17. Cyber Security Services
18. Firewalls
19. Internet Connections
20. Mobile Connections

Yours faithfully,

N Walsh

FOIA (HEALTH EDUCATION ENGLAND), Health Education England

Dear Mr/Ms Walsh,

 

Request for Information: Freedom of Information Act

 

We acknowledge receipt of your request for information to Health Education
England which we received on 10 October 2016.

 

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (General Rights of Access) that
came into force on 1 January 2005, we have a duty to:

 

•                     Acknowledge receipt of your request within 2 working
days

•                     Respond to your request within 20 working days. 

 

We will respond to your request as soon as possible but no later than 07
November 2016.

 

Kind regards

 

 

Beth Eastwood

Briefing Support Officer

Health Education England

Blenheim House | Duncombe Street | Leeds | LS1 4PL

T. 01132 952229

 

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FOIA (HEALTH EDUCATION ENGLAND), Health Education England

Dear N Walsh,

 

RE: Freedom of Information Request

 

I refer to your email of 10 October 2016 in respect of attaining
information relating to IT security.

I can confirm in accordance with S.1 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act
2000 (FOIA) that we do hold the information that you have requested.

 

Your request

Please provide a full breakdown of all equipment/services and existing
contracts in the following areas.  Please include existing supplier,
product name, contract value and contract end date:

 

1.            Telephone Lines

2.            Telephone Calls

3.            Wide Area Network

4.            LAN Equipment

5.            LAN Maintenance

6.            Desktop Hardware

7.            Desktop Management Services

8.            Contact Centre

9.            IPT/Switch Equipment

10.          IPT/Switch Maintenance

11.          Print Services

12.          Cloud/hosted Data Centre

13.          On premise Data Centre

14.          Audio Conferencing

15.          Web Conferencing

16.          Video Conferencing

17.          Cyber Security Services

18.          Firewalls

19.          Internet Connections

20.          Mobile Connections

 

Response

Health Education England (HEE) does hold the information you have
requested which can be found in the attached document however, date under
questions 17 and 18 is deemed sensitive. Therefore, it is our opinion that
Section 43 of the FOIA is engaged in this instance with reference to
questions 17 & 18.  Section 43(2) relates to information whose disclosure
would be likely to prejudice commercial interests.  Releasing this
specific data could also pose a cyber-security risk for the organisation.

 

Section 43 of the Act sets out an exemption from the right to know if:

•        the information requested is a trade secret, or

•        release of the information is likely to prejudice the commercial
interests of any person. (A person may be an individual, a company, the
public authority itself or any other legal entity.)

 

Where the information requested constitutes a trade secret, there is no
need to consider the harm its release may cause. The fact that the
information is a trade secret is reason enough to withhold the information
(subject to the public interest test). Information which does not
constitute a trade secret can only be withheld under this exemption if the
public authority is satisfied that to release the information would damage
someone’s commercial interests. This is referred to as the prejudice test.

 

I can confirm that that information HEE are withholding under Section 43
relate to the commercial interests of HEE.

 

Section 43 is a qualified exemption which is subject to a public interest
test.

 

Considerations in favour of disclosure:

HEE appreciates that the public interest can cover a wide range of values
and principles and what is in the best interests of society. For example,
there is a public interest in transparency and accountability, to promote
public understanding and to safeguard democratic processes. There is a
public interest in good decision-making by public bodies, in upholding
standards of integrity, in ensuring justice and fair treatment for all and
in securing the best use of public resources.

 

As well as the general public interest in transparency, which HEE
appreciates is always an argument for disclosure; there may also be a
legitimate public interest in the subject the information relates to. 
However, it is our opinion that this is not a relevant consideration in
this case.

 

Considerations in favour of maintaining the exemption

We consider that the factors in maintaining the exemption of the
information in this case are as follows:

·         The release of the requested information into the public domain
poses significant risk to the cyber security of the organisation

 

HEE appreciates that the public interest can cover a wide range of values
and principles relating to trainee education and training and what is in
the best interests of society. For example, there is a public interest in
transparency and accountability, to promote public understanding and to
safeguard democratic processes. There is a public interest in good
decision-making by public bodies, in upholding standards of integrity, in
ensuring justice and fair treatment for all and in securing the best use
of public resources.

 

Section 2 (2) of the FOIA refers to the public interest; furthermore
disclosures of information under FOIA are in effect to the world at large
and not merely to the individual requester. Therefore, an individual’s
private interests are not in themselves the same as the public interest
and what may serve those private interests does not necessarily serve a
wider public interest. 

 

Our Decision

By accepting the exemption is engaged, there is an acknowledgement that
the disclosure of this information would prejudice commercial interests.
And as I am sure you appreciate, cyber threats and terrorism are of
serious concern and providing the data requested could have a detrimental
impact on the cyber security of HEE.

 

We therefore feel that the argument for maintaining the exemption in this
case is stronger than the opposing arguments for disclosure of the
information requested. It is important for HEE to be accountable and
transparent with regard to our business and these processes must be safe,
protected when necessary and effective.

 

HEE is satisfied that disclosure of this information would give an unfair
advantage to competitors, undermine HEE’s ability to conduct future
business and pose a cyber-security risk.

 

I hope that this information is of use.  If you are dissatisfied with the
way in which we have dealt with your request you can ask us to review our
decision by writing to:-

 

Mr Lee Whitehead

Director of People and Communications

Health Education England

2 - 4 Victoria House,

Capital Park,

Fulbourn,

Cambridge

CB21 5XB

 

If at the conclusion of any review you remain dissatisfied you may
complain to the Information Commissioner who can be contacted at:-

 

The Office of the Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

 

Yours sincerely

 

Erin Wood

Briefing Manager

 

Health Education England

Blenheim House | Duncombe Street | Leeds | LS1 4PL

 

Stay up to date by following HEE on [1]Facebook and [2]Twitter.

 

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References

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1. http://www.facebook.com/nhshee
2. http://www.twitter.com/nhs_healthedeng

We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are N Walsh please sign in and let everyone know.