Occupational Health Records and the protection of a teacher's personal data.
Dear Suffolk County Council,
A) In 2008, what were your policies on Headteachers and your staff contacting a member of staff's GP whilst they were on sick leave?
B) In 2007 and 2008, what were your policies (i) and guidance (ii) on protecting the data held in a member of staff's Occupational Health Reports?
C) In 2006, when Melanie Barrett (now a SCC councillor) worked in HR within your Education Department, what protocols, guidelines and advice was in place for staff to follow when collecting information from teachers recently recruited by Suffolk County Council?
D) If a member of staff within Human Relations - Education took personal information from a telephone call, an email or a letter, what guidelines or strategies were in place to ensure that health data was best protected in 2006?
E) Please provide a copy of the forms that were given to teachers employed to work with Key Stage 3 and 4 students in Bury St Edmunds in 2006.
Please note the S16 point of law and my request NOT to provide links.
Instead, I respectfully ask that you comply with this FOI under the guidance of The Nolan Principles.
Yours faithfully,
Fiona Watts
#lawcomMIPO
INFORMATION REQUEST – ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Thank you for your request, here is your reference number 14697. Please quote this in any future correspondence you may have with us.
We will process your request in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 as appropriate. We aim to answer your request within 20 working days from the date we received it.
While no charges are made for the submission of requests, the council is entitled to apply reasonable costs for disbursements (i.e. photocopying, postage etc). Where such costs are under £5.00 the council is pleased to make no charge, however, if costs exceed that limit then these additional costs are payable to the council. Where charges will apply proper notice will be given to you prior to the information being released. For more information on charges please use the following link to our website: http://www.suffolk.gov.uk/about/freedom-...
If you have any queries about this request do not hesitate to contact us. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
Yours sincerely,
Performance and Information Management
Suffolk County Council
Endeavour House
8 Russell Road
Ipswich
IP1 2BX
Tel: 01473 265960
Fax: 01473 216843
Email: [email address]
INFORMATION REQUEST RESPONSE
Thank you for your request for information, reference number 14697. Please quote this in any future correspondence you may have with us.
Please find attached a copy of our response to the information you requested.
Most information supplied by Suffolk County Council will have been produced within the Council and will continue to be protected by copyright. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including for private study and non-commercial research, and for any other purpose authorised by an exception in current copyright law. Documents (except photographs) can be also used in the UK without requiring permission for the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.
If the information you have been sent includes a copyright statement, you must not alter or remove this statement. For information about re-using copyright see the Office of Public Sector Information website at www.opsi.gov.uk. The copyright in some documents may rest with a third party. For information about obtaining permission from a third party see the Intellectual Property Office’s website at www.ipo.gov.uk.
If you are dissatisfied with the way your request has been handled, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Under Regulation 11(2), internal review requests should be submitted within 40 working days of the date of this letter and should be sent to: Information Management Services, Constantine House, Constantine Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP1 2DH or, alternatively, by email at [email address].
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely,
Performance and Information Management
Suffolk County Council
Endeavour House
8 Russell Road
Ipswich
IP1 2BX
Tel: 01473 265960
Fax: 01473 216843
Email: [email address]
Dear Suffolk County Council,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Suffolk County Council's handling of my FOI request 'Occupational Health Records and the protection of a teacher's personal data.'.
In your reply on 18th April 2017, you provided the following reply;
"Freedom of Information – Response – 14697
A – We are writing to advise you that, following a search of our paper and electronic records, it has been established that the information you requested is not held by Suffolk County Council. If you have not already done so you may wish to contact:
Schools’ Choice – [email address] "
The problem is that not only have you failed to provide a contact address but you are asking me to believe that Suffolk County Council has no policies on protecting a teacher's personal data?
Really?
So, this might explain the reason for the Head Teacher Geoff Barton and other Suffolk County Council employees apparently misleading an employment tribunal back on Matthew Mudd in 2011? It seems that nobody had bothered to best protect the data relating to this teacher's conduct as he continued to text Year 9 pupils in Bury St Edmunds in 2006; repeating the same "crime" that he'd left his last post over in Ipswich.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suf...
The reason why I seek an internal review of this FOI is because it is a Public Interest issue.
If the council had "no policy" for best protecting the data of the teachers it employed, then this will explain why the teacher who attended the same day of interviews as Matthew Mudd in February 2006 then went on to become a victim of perjury at Norwich County Court between 2015 and 2016 and then Ipswich Magistrates Court in 2017?
Are the lack of protocols on protecting a Suffolk County Council teacher's data the reason for a Child Welfare whistle-blowing member of staff being unable to access an unbiased Council Tax Service since 2007?
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/o...
Yours faithfully,
Fiona Watts
#MisconductInPublicOffice
Dear Ms Watts
We are sorry that you are unhappy with the response to your access to information request 14697.
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI) and Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) we will conduct an internal review of our response.
Internal reviews are conducted by the Information Management Operations Manager. As determined by the Information Commissioner as best practice we aim to complete your internal review within 20 working days.
Kind regards
Performance and Information Management
Suffolk County Council
Endeavour House
Russell Road
Ipswich
IP1 2BX
Tel: 01473 265960
Email: [email address]
Web: www.suffolk.gov.uk
Dear Information Management Services,
I just wish to add that I wish that you were "sorry"?
Unfortunately, this is the same department who told me between 2011 and 2013 not to bother your team any further after I complained that your Subject Access Reports were faulty and non compliant with UK data laws.
The problem for your council now is the #GrenvilleLaw = it should be illegal for Public Servants to refuse to correct their errors.
Yours sincerely,
Fiona Watts
Dear Ms Watts
Thank you for your correspondence on 14 June 2017 where you requested an
Internal Review following your request for information about 14697 and
please accept our sincere apologies for the delay in getting back to you.
Your concerns were:
“Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information
reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Suffolk County Council's
handling of my FOI request 'Occupational Health Records and the protection
of a teacher's personal data.'.
In your reply on 18th April 2017, you provided the following reply;
"Freedom of Information – Response – 14697
A – We are writing to advise you that, following a search of our paper and
electronic records, it has been established that the information you
requested is not held by Suffolk County Council. If you have not already
done so you may wish to contact:
Schools’ Choice – [1][email address] "
The problem is that not only have you failed to provide a contact address
but you are asking me to believe that Suffolk County Council has no
policies on protecting a teacher's personal data?
Really?
So, this might explain the reason for the Head Teacher Geoff Barton and
other Suffolk County Council employees apparently misleading an employment
tribunal back on Matthew Mudd in 2011? It seems that nobody had bothered
to best protect the data relating to this teacher's conduct as he
continued to text Year 9 pupils in Bury St Edmunds in 2006; repeating the
same "crime" that he'd left his last post over in Ipswich.
[2]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suf...
The reason why I seek an internal review of this FOI is because it is a
Public Interest issue.
If the council had "no policy" for best protecting the data of the
teachers it employed, then this will explain why the teacher who attended
the same day of interviews as Matthew Mudd in February 2006 then went on
to become a victim of perjury at Norwich County Court between 2015 and
2016 and then Ipswich Magistrates Court in 2017?
Are the lack of protocols on protecting a Suffolk County Council teacher's
data the reason for a Child Welfare whistle-blowing member of staff being
unable to access an unbiased Council Tax Service since 2007?”
Having now conducted a formal review of your request, I can confirm that
our response to your request (ref 14697) is overturned. Suffolk County
Council offer their sincere apologies for the incorrect manner in which
your request was dealt with and have attached a revised response to your
request. Please do be aware however, that the website whatdotheyknow.com
blocks addresses automatically and unfortunately it is outside of our
power to prevent this.
Accordingly, I believe that the Council did not meet the requirements of
the legislation in response to your request and offer our apologies.
Please find attached the requested information that should have been sent
to you.
Of necessity this response has to include reference to legislation. If
anything is unclear please do not hesitate to contact us.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF.
Kind Regards
Becky PC.foi.
FOI Officer
Performance and Information Management
Suffolk County Council
Constantine House
Constantine Road
Ipswich
IP1 2DH
Tel: 01473 265960
Fax: 01473 216843
Email: [3][email address]
Web: [4]www.suffolk.gov.uk
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References
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1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suf...
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4. http://www.suffolk.gov.uk/
Dear Information Management Services,
Thank you for your apologies.
However, an apology does not help whistle-blowers best defend themselves against repeated perjury at Ipswich Magistrates Court this year or help them resolve 300 acts of malfeasance progressed by five NHS departments, St, Edmundsbury Borough Council staff, your council and Suffolk Constabulary.
Request for clarity from you;
1. Where in your attachments do you provide best clarification in compliance with the principles of The Data Protection Act 1998 for Question A?
My original question;
A) In 2008, what were your policies on Headteachers and your staff contacting a member of staff's GP whilst they were on sick leave?
You see, this week, a former teacher employed by Suffolk County Council is being counter sued by a utility company who first committed perjury against your former employee in 2007. The victim of perjury has been unable to resolve that cycle of false data progressed against them for a decade because her personal files have been edited, tampered with and altered.
If this is helpful, let me rephrase the original FOI question for question A;
A ii) Under which paragraph of Suffolk County Council guidelines is a Head Teacher allowed to contact an employee's GP on the same day that the teacher has phoned in sick and followed all protocols and guidelines in the teacher's Hand Book?
A iii) If the teacher in question has a proven track record of not taking time off for a friend's funerals and only taking a day of during term time for an extreme situation; what circumstances allows an employer of Suffolk County Council to get in touch with the NHS about the poorly member of staff?
Please don't respond with the accusation that I am being "vexatious"; I just seek clarity as my tampered medical records means that I lost the support of my legal advisor in 2015.
Yours sincerely,
Fiona Watts
@magnacarta300
Dear Information Management Services,
Please do not refer me to the Information Commissioner neither; they were a waste of my time 2011 - 2016.
Yours sincerely,
Fiona Watts
Dear Ms Watts
Thank you for your email, please see the response below in relation to your further questions;
1. Where in your attachments do you provide best clarification in compliance with the principles of The Data Protection Act 1998 for Question A?
- All of Suffolk County Council’s policies are written in accordance the with Data Protection Act 1998 and as such there is no ‘best clarification’. As we have previously stated schools are their own data controller and therefore would have their own policies.
A ii) Under which paragraph of Suffolk County Council guidelines is a Head Teacher allowed to contact an employee's GP on the same day that the teacher has phoned in sick and followed all protocols and guidelines in the teacher's Hand Book?
- Suffolk County Council’s sickness policy was provided to you in response to QA which includes the guidelines followed by Suffolk County Council staff. As previously mentioned this policy does not cover teachers, this would be covered in the school’s own sickness policy and would need to be requested from them.
A iii) If the teacher in question has a proven track record of not taking time off for a friend's funerals and only taking a day of during term time for an extreme situation; what circumstances allows an employer of Suffolk County Council to get in touch with the NHS about the poorly member of staff?
- Suffolk County Council does not hold this information. The school handles teacher’s absence requests not Suffolk County Council so you may wish to contact the school directly.
Suffolk County Council can confirm that all information held in relation to your request has been provided and no further information is held.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review or your further questions, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Kind regards
Becky PC.foi.
FOI Lead Officer
Performance and Information Management
Suffolk County Council
Constantine House
Constantine Road
Ipswich
IP1 2DH
Tel: 01473 265960
Fax: 01473 216843
Email: [email address]
Web: www.suffolk.gov.uk
Dear Information Management Services
Thank you for your reply but your responses have confused me further.
Clarity sought in respect of the Data Protection Act;
If Suffolk County Council employees receive a wage slip from your council, then they are Suffolk County Council "staff" are they not?
Now, the former Headteacher and the whistle-blower teacher both received wage slips from SCC; this suggests to me that the staff were both employed by Suffolk County Council does it not?
Yours sincerely,
Fiona Watts
Dear Ms Watts
Thank you for your email, we have answered your original request and conducted the internal review, providing you with information in response and there is nothing further we are able to do. As mentioned in both of our previous replies, if you are still unhappy you will need to contact the Information Commissioners Office. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Kind regards
Becky
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