Master Vendor

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust,

1. Do you have a master vendor arrangement in place?
2. If yes who is your current Master Vendor Provider?
3. What fill rates are achieved with your Master Vendor Provider?
4. Are you charged a fee for the service and if so what is the cost?
5. What is the expiry date for your current contract?

Yours faithfully,

Carol Pawlak

LCH, Foi (LEEDS COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE NHS TRUST), Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust

Dear Sir/Madam

Re- Your Request for Information (Ref. 196 FOI LCH)

Thank you for your e-mail. We acknowledge receipt of your request for information which has been allocated the above reference number.

Format for response: Electronic

Your request will be dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and procedures to ascertain whether or not Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust holds the information have now commenced. A response will be sent to you within 20 working days.
Please be assured Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust will do everything it can to help you obtain the information you require within the stated timescale, however, there may be circumstances where we are unable to meet some, or all, of the requirements of your request, details of which are given in the below advice sheet.
If you require further clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Yours faithfully
Freedom of Information
Information Governance
Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust
Stockdale House
Victoria Road
LS6 1PF
Email: [Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust request email]
www.leedscommunityhealthcare.nhs.uk
This email is confidential and intended for the named recipient(s) only. If you have received this email in error, please delete it and notify the sender accordingly. Unauthorised copying and/or use of this email if you are not the intended recipient will result in legal action being taken.
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 – GRA1 ADVICE NOTE

Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust’s Response

LEEDS COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE NHS TRUST’s response to your FOI request will normally:
· State whether the LEEDS COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE NHS TRUST holds the information requested, and
· if it does, provide that information.
However, the Act recognises that there may be circumstances where Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust will be unable to meet some, or all, of the requirements of your request, details of which are listed below.

Format of Response
If you express a preference for the information to be provided in one of the three formats specified in the Act (see below) Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust will comply with that request, if it is reasonable to do so.
The three formats specified in the Act are:
· a copy of the information;
· a reasonable opportunity to inspect a record containing the information, or
· a digest or summary of the information.
If you request a different format, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust will make every effort to meet your requirements.
Costs may be taken into account in considering whether it will be reasonable to comply with your requirements. If it is not considered reasonable, you will be contacted to discuss alternatives.

Requirement for Further Information
The 20 day time limit is not activated until sufficient information has been provided to enable Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust to identify and locate the information requested.
Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust will contact you on receipt of your request to ascertain your exact requirements. If this information does not adequately describe the information requested, you will be contacted again.
If it has not proved possible to fully describe the information requested, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust will endeavour to provide the information it has identified. Details of Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust’s complaints procedure will also be provided.

Transfer of Request
If your request relates to information which is not held by Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust, but may be held by another public authority, you will be advised of this together with contact details where possible.
You may request Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust oversee the transfer of your request. If Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust holds only part of the information requested, it will process that part of the request and provide you with the contact details of the
organisation that may be able to assist you further, where possible.

Restrictions
The Freedom of Information Act lists 23 ‘exemptions’ (i.e. circumstances in which Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust does not have to provide the information requested), details of which are attached at Appendix 1.
The ‘Qualified Exemptions’ require a ‘public interest test’ to be carried out, which balances the public interest in withholding the information against the public interest in making it available. With the exception of section 21 (Information available by other means), the exemptions apply not only to the communication of information but also the duty to confirm or deny whether Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust holds the information – if that in itself would disclose information that it is reasonable to withhold.
If Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust considers that some of the information you require is ‘exempt’, you will be provided with the information which can be made available and an explanation as to why some of the information was withheld.
If Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust cannot provide any information we will explain why your request cannot be dealt with.

Public Interest Test

If it proves likely that consideration of the Public Interest Test will take longer than the 20 days allowed for responding to requests, you will, within that 20 day period, be given an estimate of when you are likely to receive a response.

If that estimate proves to be unrealistic, you will be kept informed.

Fees
The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 (Fees Regulations) dictate what charges can be made for providing information.
The Fees Regulations allow Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust to charge £25 per hour for the following activities:
· determining whether the information is held;
· locating the information;
· retrieving the information, and
· extracting the information (including editing and/or redacting ).
Costs of up to £450
If the above activities are estimated to cost up to £450, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust can charge only for Disbursements (see below).
Costs over £450
If the above activities are estimated to cost more than £450, the request can be refused. However, in such circumstances, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust will contact you to discuss possible ways of reducing the cost to £450 or below.
If it is not possible to reduce costs we will let you know as soon as possible.

Please note: Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust has decided to not provide information costing more than £450, even if the applicant is willing to pay the full costs.
Disbursements
The Fees Regulations allow Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust to make a charge for the following Disbursements:
· Complying with a request for the information to be provided in a particular format;
· Reproducing any document, and/or
· Postage and other forms of transmission (e.g. fax).
Unfortunately, it will not be possible to calculate these costs at an early stage.
If the actual cost of answering the request turns out to be more than the fee charged, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust will bear the costs. If the cost is less than the fee charged, the excess money will be refunded.
Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust currently do not charge wherever possible for reasonable, i.e. not excessive, requests for information.

VAT

VAT will be charged only where the information requested is also available from another source that is not a public authority. If applicable, details will be provided in the Fees Notice.

Fees Notice
If a charge is payable, you will be issued with a Fees Notice (sent via Recorded Signed for Delivery) and have 3 months to pay. The 20 days for responding to the request will be put ‘on hold’ until the fee is paid. If the fee is not paid within that period, it will be assumed that you no longer require the information and the request will be cancelled.
If you are unwilling, or unable, to pay the fee notified, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust should be informed at the earliest opportunity. You will then be contacted to explore alternative ways forward.

Please note: If payment is received by cheque, the clearance date will be counted as the date on which payment is received.

Consultative or Campaign Requests

The Fees Regulations allow Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust to apply the total cost of complying with requests where:

· One person makes two or more requests that relate to the same or similar information within any 60 consecutive working day period, and
· Different persons appear to be acting in concert or in a pursuance of a campaign by submitting requests for the same or similar information within any 60 consecutive working day period.

Vexatious or repeated requests

If Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust has reason to believe that a request is vexatious or repeated, as defined by section 14 of the Act, it will serve a Refusal Notice to that effect.

Where a Refusal Notice has already been sent to an applicant regarding the same subject, a further notice will not be issued.

Complaints Procedure

If you have any concerns about the way your request has been handled; the operation of the Trust’s Publication Scheme; the response received, or an ‘exemption’ decision, you should, in the first instance
contact the Information Governance Department to try to resolve them.

If you are not happy with the outcome, you can then complain to Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust’s Complaints Department.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint, you can then appeal to the Information Commissioner.
Full details will be provided in Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust’s final response to your information request, unless specifically requested beforehand.

APPENDIX 1
EXEMPT INFORMATION UNDER PART II
OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

There are two types of class exemption:

(a) absolute, which do not require a test of prejudice or the balance of public interest to be in favour of non-disclosure.

(b) qualified by the public interest test, which require the public body to decide whether it is in the balance of public interest to not disclose information.

With the exception of s21 (information available by other means) exemptions apply not only to the communication of information but also to the duty to confirm or deny, if that itself would disclose information that it is reasonable to withhold.

Absolute Exemptions – The absolute exemptions under the Act are:

· section 21 - Information accessible to applicant by other means
· section 23 - Information supplied by, or relating to, bodies dealing with security matters.
· section 32 - Court Records
· section 34 - Parliamentary Privilege
· section 36 - Prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs (so far as relating to information held by
the House of Commons or the House of Lords)
· section 40 - Personal Information (where disclosure may contravene the Data Protection Act 1998)
· section 41 - Information provided in confidence
· section 44 - Prohibitions on disclosure

Qualified Exemptions – The exemptions that are qualified by the public interest test are:

· section 22 - Information intended for future publication
· section 24 - National Security
· section 26 - Defence
· section 27 - International Relations
· section 28 - Relations within the United Kingdom
· section 29 - The Economy
· section 30 - Investigations and proceedings conducted by public authorities
· section 31 - Law Enforcement
· section 33 - Audit Functions
· section 35 - Formulation of Government Policy
· section 36 - Prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs (for all public authorities except the
House of Commons and the House of Lords)
· section 37 - Communications with Her Majesty, etc. and honours
· section 38 - Health and Safety
· section 39 - Environmental Information
· section 42 - Legal Professional Privilege
· section 43 - Commercial Interests.

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LCH, Foi (LEEDS COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE NHS TRUST), Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust

1 Attachment

Hi Carol

Find attached response to your FOI request.

Many thanks

Information Governance
Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust
2nd Floor Stockdale House
Headingley Office Park
Victoria Road
Leeds
LS6 1PF
Email: [Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust request email]
For further information about how we process your data, please view our Privacy Notice.

Have you seen the new IG handbook? This Handbook outlines your responsibilities in protecting the personal data you come into contact with during your employment with the Trust.

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