Own Initiative Report ~ PIP - Complaint Volumes
Dear Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman,
The NIPSO statement, published on your website dated 21 January 2019, regarding the Ombudsman’s proposal to commence an investigation into PIP states “that since June 2016 there have been a significant number of complaints about PIPs to her Office.”
Could you please:
1. Detail the number of complaints in relation to PIP received by NIPSO by month and year since June 2016 to date.
2. The number of those complaints contained in point 1 referred by the Ombudsman to the Department for Communities by month and year since June 2016.
3. The number of those complaints in points 1 and 2 that have been upheld by month and year since June 2016.
Yours faithfully,
Lizzie Carlisle
Dear Ms Carlisle
Re: IR20210021 – Ms Carlisle - FOI request re PIP complaint volumes
Thank you for your recent request for Information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Your email has been forwarded to Legal Services and we will respond to this request in due course.
Yours,
Legal Services
Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman's Office
Progressive House | 33 Wellington Place | Belfast | BT1 6HN
Email: [email address]
Telephone: 0800 343424
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By email: [1][FOI #770836 email]
Dear Ms Carlisle
Re: Information Request - IR20210020 – Carlisle
I refer to your email dated 5 July 2021, in which you made a request under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for the following information:
“1. Detail the number of complaints in relation to PIP received by NIPSO
by month and year since June 2016 to date.
2. The number of those complaints contained in point 1 referred by the
Ombudsman to the Department for Communities by month and year since June
2016.
3. The number of those complaints in points 1 and 2 that have been upheld
by month and year since June 2016.”
Introduction
Your request for information relates to an investigation by this Office
relating to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) benefit, “Own Initiative
Report - PIP and the Value of Further Evidence”, which is administered by
the Department for Communities (“the Department”) in Northern Ireland.
This investigation was conducted in accordance with section 8 of the 2016
Act.
In considering your request for information, I have reviewed files and
records which contain applicable information. I have also considered the
following pieces of legislation:
• The Public Services Ombudsman Act (Northern Ireland) 2016
(‘the 2016 Act’)
• The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘FOIA 2000’)
I am treating this as a request for information under section 1(1) of the
FOIA 2000.
My Response
Question 1, 2 and 3
The Ombudsman confirms that she does hold information of the general
nature to which you have requested. The information is at present held in
an unstructured format. Arising from this request and a broadly similar
request, the Ombudsman has determined that she will now be publishing this
information at some future date.
In accordance with section 22(1)(a) of the FOIA 2000, this information
will not be disclosed at this point, as it will be disclosed at a future
date following a determination of the extent of information held, its
location, its retrieval and its extraction.
This Ombudsman has not determined the date when this publication will take
place in the future at this juncture.
Conclusion
If you are not satisfied with this response to your request, you may ask
for an internal review within two calendar months of the date of this
letter. You should contact:
Mr John McGinnity
Director of Corporate Services
Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman’s Office
Progressive House
33 Wellington Place
Belfast
BT1 6HN
Email: [2][email address]
If you are not content with the outcome of any internal review requested
by you, you then 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
Gregory Smyth
Gregory Smyth
Legal Officer
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #770836 email]
2. mailto:[email address]
Dear Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews (Mr John McGinnity, Director of Corporate Services).
I am writing to request an internal review of Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman's handling of my FOI request 'Own Initiative Report ~ PIP - Complaint Volumes'.
I am dissatisfied with the response and decision not to provide the information requested. The response has relied on section 22(1)(a) of the FOIA 2000, saying “this information will not be disclosed at this point, as it will be disclosed at a future date following a determination of the extent of information held, its location, its retrieval and its extraction”.
I would suggest that it is incorrect to rely on an exemption under this section of the FOIA. It is not reasonable to withhold this information, you have not provided or indicated an intended date of publication, it is not for statistics from an incomplete research project, you have not indicated that this is information which is usually published to a specific timetable.
Further, to suggest that the Ombudsman, whose Office is to be established as the Complaints Standards Authority for Northern Ireland, does not know the extent of complaint information held, the location of that information or how to retrieve and extract it is hard to believe; at best it would indicate that the complaint information is not handled properly or appropriately .
I do not believe you may rely on an exemption section 22(1)(a) of the FOIA 2000 and request that you review the decision.
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,
Lizzie Carlisle
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