Membership of all CTAP subgroups
Dear UK Research and Innovation,
Throughout 2021, UK-CTAP were investigating drug candidates for COVID-19. To my knowledge, there has never been full disclosure of who sat on each subgroup panel. We have only the chairs for each panel. The process aimed to be transparent but we only have limited notes on how decisions were reached, never who formulated those decisions.
A recent document, "Therapeutics Advisory Panel for Pandemic Operating Model", suggests on page 3 that panel members should have 'no vested interests' but notes 'there will at times be conflicts of interest that will need to be managed. It is important to surface these conflicts of interest and manage them appropriately'
As such, please provide a full list of the CTAP panel membership throughout the 2021 decision-making process. Please include a full breakdown of membership, including who sat on the subgroup panels. Also please provide any conflicts of interest assessments that were surfaced and properly managed at the time.
Yours faithfully,
Philip
Dear Philip
Thank you for your email dated 18 March 2022. In keeping with our duties under section 16 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) we wish to advise you that you have not provided your real name. Under section 8(1)(b) this would make your request under the FOIA invalid as it requires that a request for information must include the name of the requester; in the email your name is noted only as "Philip".
The ICO guidance at https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisatio... provides that "the intention of the legislation is for the requester to provide their real name so their request could be processed in accordance with the requirements of the FOIA". We are therefore unable to proceed with your request until you have confirmed your identity by providing your full name.
Your case is currently on hold and will be progressed once we have received your response. However, if no response is received by 15 April 2022, your case will be closed. If after this date the information is still required you will need to submit a new request.
Yours Sincerely
Information Governance
UK Research and Innovation
Dear Philip Harper,
Thank you for your email of 18 March. We can confirm that your email has
been received by the Information Rights team and your query will be
responded to in due course.
The reference number for your request is FOI2022/00107 .
Kind regards,
Information Governance
Information Rights Team
UK Research and Innovation
[UKRI request email] | [email address]
Dear Philip Harper
Reference: FOI2022/00107
Our response to your above information request can be accessed by
following this link:
[1]FOI2022/00107: Membership of all UK CTAP subgroup panels/conflicts of
interest - UK Research and Innovation Disclosure Log
Kind regards
Information Governance
Information Rights Team
UK Research and Innovation
[UKRI request email] | [email address]
References
Visible links
1. https://ukri.disclosurelog.co.uk/case/55...
Dear UK Research and Innovation,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of UK Research and Innovation's handling of my FOI request 'Membership of all CTAP subgroups'.
I don't think this request 'contravenes one of the data protection principles' because a similar - though incomplete - list of people sitting on the Therapeutics Covid-19 panel was published by the Government in the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 Advisory Bodies Annual Report 2020. The link is below.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk...
Given the panel was structured in such a way that the expert advice was unique to the subgroups, it's reasonable to want to have oversight of that process because conflicts of interest are a well known issue which UKRI have specifically acknowledged. Given this data has been published in part before, what new principle stops the complete data being published in 2022?
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/m...
Yours faithfully,
Philip
Dear Philip Harper,
Thank you for your email of 14 April. We can confirm that your request for
an Internal Review has been received by the Information Rights team and
your query will be responded to in due course.
The reference number for your request is IR2022/00145.
Kind regards,
Information Governance
Information Rights Team
UK Research and Innovation
[UKRI request email] | [email address]
Dear UK Research and Innovation,
I've yet to hear from you on this reasonable request for full membership of the CTAP subpanels.
Yours faithfully,
Philip
Dear Philip Harper
Reference: IR2022/00145
Please find attached our response to your request for an Internal review.
Kind regards
Information Governance
Information Rights Team
UK Research and Innovation
[UKRI request email] | [email address]
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