Percentage of review requests for 2014/15 and 2015/16
Dear Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman,
In August 2014 you sent information regarding percentage of review requests at PHSO in line with this request. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p...
Can you please update that information in the same format for the years 2014/15 and 2015/16 as described below.
1. Actual numbers (and percentage of total) requests for a review following a decision not to investigate.
2. Actual numbers (and percentage of total) requests for a review following an investigation.
3. Numbers upheld and not upheld for both 1 & 2.
4. Actual numbers (and percentage of total) requests for a review following a service delivery complaint.
5. Numbers upheld and not upheld for 4.
6. Actual numbers (and percentage of total) of reviews handled by external reviewers.
7. Numbers upheld and not upheld by external reviewers.
Many thanks
Della Reynolds
phsothefacts Pressure Group
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Fiona Watts left an annotation ()
IF The Ombudsman has nothing to hide, maybe this agency would provide an outline on how many requests were made in each month?
After I became a Person In Litigation in 2015 I was able to confirm that the PHSO is an utter waste of time. In the matching Statement of Truths presented by SERCO & the NHS lawyers in October 2015, they convinced the Judges that I had imagined the complaints that I had first tried to progress with the NHS & Council Tax Services and then asked the PHSO to review between 2011 and 2015.
This would not be so scary but the fact that the Government and the Ministry of Justice have censored me too.
It seems that PHSO The Facts and this website have the only people (volunteers) who actually care about justice for the most vulnerable victims of malfeasance?
9 December 2016
Dear Della Reynolds
Your information request – our reference: FDN 274125
I am writing in response to your Freedom of Information request dated 5
December 2016 in which you asked the following information:
In August 2014 you sent information regarding percentage of review
requests at PHSO in line with this request.
[1]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p...
Can you please update that information in the same format for the years
2014/15 and 2015/16 as described below.
1. Actual numbers (and percentage of total) requests for a review
following a decision not to investigate.
2. Actual numbers (and percentage of total) requests for a review
following an investigation.
3. Numbers upheld and not upheld for both 1 & 2.
4. Actual numbers (and percentage of total) requests for a review
following a service delivery complaint.
5. Numbers upheld and not upheld for 4.
In relation to questions 1 to 5, the information you have requested can be
found on page 14 of our 2015/16 Annual Report:
[2]www.ombudsman.org.uk/about-us/publications/annual-reports.
6. Actual numbers (and percentage of total) of reviews handled by external
reviewers.
7. Numbers upheld and not upheld by external reviewers.
In relation to questions 6 and 7 please find below the figures:
Actual numbers (and percentage of total) of reviews handled by external
reviewers in 2014/15
51 were reviewed by external reviewers (13%)
Numbers upheld and not upheld by external reviewers
8 upheld
36 not upheld
7 partly upheld
Actual numbers (and percentage of total) of reviews handled by external
reviewers in 2015/16
48 were reviewed by external reviewers (22%)
Numbers upheld and not upheld by external reviewers
2 upheld
44 not upheld
2 partly upheld
I hope the information is helpful. If you are dissatisfied with the way
your Freedom of Information request was handled you can ask for an
internal review by emailing me at [3][Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman request email].
Beyond that you can complain to the Information Commissioner, her office
details can be found here: [4]https://ico.org.uk/.
Yours sincerely
FOI/DP Officer
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
References
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2. http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/about-us/pub...
3. mailto:[Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman request email]
4. https://ico.org.uk/
Dear InformationRights,
On the 9th December you responded to my request with information that the data requested could be found on p14 of the Annual Report. The data in the report is sparse and does not answer all the questions raised.
This data gives only the number of decisions reviewed at initial check and assessment (56) and uphold rate (9). Equally, for reviews following investigations the data is 162 decisions reviewed and 5 upheld. http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/__data/asset...
Missing from this data is the total number of review requests following a decision not to investigate, the total number of review requests following an investigation and all information regarding review requests following a service delivery complaint. The request was clearly laid out and this data must be held by PHSO so please provide all data as requested.
Yours sincerely,
phsothefacts Pressure Group
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Dear Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman,
Have you found the data yet?
Yours faithfully,
Della Reynolds
phsothefacts Pressure Group
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Dear Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's handling of my FOI request 'Percentage of review requests for 2014/15 and 2015/16'.
A clear request for data concerning review requests was sent on 11th November 2016. The response of PHSO on 9th December was to send me to information found in the Annual Report. On the 19th December I informed you that this data did not address each part of my request and asked you to provide the missing information. Over a month later there has been no response.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p...
Yours faithfully,
Della Reynolds
phsothefacts Pressure Group
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Dear Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman,
Are you ever going to respond to this request? You must have the data available. Why the delay? If I haven't had a reasonable response by 20th February then I'll take it to ICO.
Yours faithfully,
Della Reynolds
phsothefacts Pressure Group
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Dear Ms Reynolds
Your internal review (FDN-274125)
Further to your email of 9 December 2016, I am writing with a response to
your request for an internal review. This review will look at whether
your information request was dealt with in compliance with the
requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
Was the request responded to in time?
We received the request on 11 November 2016 and responded to it on 9
December 2016. As this was within the time limit of twenty working days
stipulated by section 10(1) FOIA, we responded to the request in a timely
fashion.
Was the request complied with fully?
I have reviewed the response provided to you, which comprised data on
external reviews as well as a link to our 2015/16 annual report (available
on our new website here:
[1]https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/sites/defau...)
We advised that all the information you had requested under points one to
five was available in our annual report. However, you requested
information about numbers of complaints issuing from decisions not to
investigate; about investigation outcomes; and service delivery complaints
and the annual report does not provide the level of detail which you
requested. I can see that you were provided with all the information
requested in relation to external reviews.
Outcome of review
As the information we redirected you to in the public domain did not fully
comply with the terms of your request, I partly uphold this review.
I have asked for points one to five to be addressed as a new request and
we will aim to get this information to you as soon as possible.
I hope that this response is helpful. If you remain dissatisfied with our
handling of your request, it is open to you to complain to the Information
Commissioner’s Office ([2]www.ico.org.uk).
Yours sincerely
Aimee Gasston
Freedom of Information and Data Protection Officer
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
W: [3]www.ombudsman.org.uk
Please email the FOI/DP team at: [4][Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman request email]
From: phsothefacts Pressure Group
[mailto:[FOI #370353 email]]
Sent: 19 December 2016 13:58
To: InformationRights
Subject: Re: FDN 274125: your information request
Dear InformationRights,
On the 9th December you responded to my request with information that the
data requested could be found on p14 of the Annual Report. The data in
the report is sparse and does not answer all the questions raised.
This data gives only the number of decisions reviewed at initial check and
assessment (56) and uphold rate (9). Equally, for reviews following
investigations the data is 162 decisions reviewed and 5 upheld.
[5]http://www.ombudsman.org.uk/__data/asset...
Missing from this data is the total number of review requests following a
decision not to investigate, the total number of review requests following
an investigation and all information regarding review requests following a
service delivery complaint. The request was clearly laid out and this
data must be held by PHSO so please provide all data as requested.
Yours sincerely,
phsothefacts Pressure Group
Dear Aimee Gasston,
It really is time that requests for data were not treated like attacks from alien forces. This site puts all requests made to PHSO in the public domain. Anyone reading through the many obfuscations and delays given in response would not consider the Ombudsman to be either open, transparent or customer focused. This is your window on the world, to prove through your actions that the rhetoric on your website and your service charter promises can be trusted.
I look forward to a full response to my request in the near future.
Yours sincerely,
Della Reynolds
phsothefacts Pressure Group
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Brenda Prentice left an annotation ()
Amazing, 3 months and still no answer to this request.
It is understandable why they don't want to say.....so sneaky.
navartne left an annotation ()
The Internal Review (IR) has taken around 45 working days, which is in excess of the 20 working day limit recommended by the ICO. PHSO doesn't publish their targets for handling IR's nor do they keep to the maximum limit.
Although, the IR time limit is not specified in the FOIA, the commissioner has a obligation (this is part of the FOIA) to ensure that Public bodies adhere to the good practice guidelines. The IR time limits are specified within the Good practice guidelines. The PHSO isn't really making the Commissioner's job any easier by defying the good practice. (actually PHSO is making the Commissioner break the law)
::
PHSO has definitely allowed it's views about the request to influence how it reads the request; when it should be read in the context of what's being requested (https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/3... ).
The public will soon lose confidence in the PHSO (if it hasn't done already). Policymakers will HAVE to make some big changes. e.g. complete overhaul of PHSO or disbandment. By then it will be too late for the PHSO.
The only way to regain the Public's confidence is to publish data proactively (as opposed to reactively - with friction). Only then will the PHSO become an institution worthy of it's name.
phsothefacts Pressure Group left an annotation ()
I completely agree. PHSO should be publishing this kind of data as a matter of course. Every year I have to ask for the numbers of fully upheld complaints as this is never recorded in their annual report. They also use 'enquiry' and 'complaint' interchangeably when they mean very different things. Smoke and mirrors but fooling no-one.
Dear Ms Reynolds
RE: Your information request FDN-274394
I am writing further to my colleague, Aimee Gasston’s email of 15 February
2017, in which you were advised that we would re-process your request at
FDN-274125 for the following information for 2014/15 and 2015/16:
1. Actual numbers (and percentage of total) requests for a review
following a decision not to investigate.
2. Actual numbers (and percentage of total) requests for a review
following an investigation.
3. Numbers upheld and not upheld for both 1 & 2.
4. Actual numbers (and percentage of total) requests for a review
following a service delivery complaint.
5. Numbers upheld and not upheld for 4.
In response to parts 1 to 3 of your request please see the attached tables
for the years 2014/15 and 2015/16 relating to:
o Reviews following a decision not to investigate (‘Intake &
Assessment’)
o Reviews following an investigation (‘Investigation’)
Please note, in the table relating to 2015/16 ‘handled’ is the number of
review requests received by the PHSO. This information is not able to be
provided for previous years as it has only recently been centrally
recorded. To provide this information for 2014/15 we would need to
manually review all of our cases to see if there was a review request and
I estimate that this would take at least 900 hours. Therefore, the
exemption at section 12 of the FOIA applies as it would take more than 18
hours work and would exceed the appropriate cost limit for complying with
a request as set out in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection
(Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.
I note that we previously released to you the number of requests for a
review for the years 2010/11, 2011/12, and 2013/14 (see our reference
FDN-199514). This data is not the number of requests for review received
by the PHSO but instead appears to be the number of reviews formally
accepted. I apologise for the confusion.
I am unable to provide the information requested in parts 4 and 5 of your
request. To provide this information would require all service complaints
received by the PHSO in 2014/15 and 2015/16 to be reviewed to determine if
the PHSO received a review request following these complaints. As 696
service complaints were handled in this period, I estimate it would take
at least 58 hours to comply with these parts of your request. Therefore,
the exemption at section 12 of the FOIA, as described above, also applies
here.
I am sorry we cannot provide all of the requested information. If you
believe we have made an error in the way I have processed your information
request, it is open to you to request an internal review. You can do this
by writing to us by post or by email to
[1][Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman request email]. You will need to specify what the
nature of the issue is and we can consider the matter further. Beyond
that, it is open to you to complain to the Information Commissioner’s
Office ([2]www.ico.org.uk).
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information/Data Protection Officer
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
W: [3]www.ombudsman.org.uk
Dear InformationRights,
Thank you for the information provided. It would appear that a table has been created in order to respond to this request. I am now making a specific request to see the original data held for the following aspects of the original request which have not been responded to.
1. The number of service complaints made to PHSO in reporting year 14/15
2. The number of service complaints investigated in 14/15
3. The number of service complaints upheld in 14/15 broken into partial and full uphold.
4. The number of service complaints made to PHSO in reporting year 15/16
5. The number of service complaints investigated in 15/16
6. The number of service complaints upheld in 15/16 broken into partial and full uphold.
This information should already be held by PHSO as it would be reported to the board and senior management as a matter of routine. I am therefore making a request to see the original data stored by PHSO in keeping with the FOI guidelines.
Yours sincerely,
Della Reynolds
phsothefacts Pressure Group
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Dear Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman,
Why am I still waiting for this information?
Yours faithfully,
Della Reynolds
phsothefacts Pressure Group
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Dear InformationRights,
As your attachment does not contain any of 'my information' this action simply prevents other interested parties from accessing the data requested which is against the spirit of this site. In the interests of open transparency please send again in a form which does not require decoding.
Yours sincerely,
Della Reynolds
phsothefacts Pressure Group
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Dear Della Reynolds,
Your information request: FDN- 274485
I write in response to your email of 14 March 2017 in which you requested
information held by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman in the
following terms:
“1. The number of service complaints made to PHSO in reporting year 14/15
2. The number of service complaints investigated in 14/15
3. The number of service complaints upheld in 14/15 broken into partial
and full uphold.
4. The number of service complaints made to PHSO in reporting year 15/16
5. The number of service complaints investigated in 15/16
6. The number of service complaints upheld in 15/16 broken into partial
and full uphold.
This information should already be held by PHSO as it would be reported to
the board and senior management as a matter of routine. I am therefore
making a request to see the original data stored by PHSO in keeping with
the FOI guidelines”
Please note that records are only available for the number of service
complaints investigated and these are not broken down into partial and
full uphold but rather into upheld and not upheld.
For 2014/15:
Fully/ partly upheld Not upheld Withdrawn by complainant Total
2014/15 48 46.6% 54 52.4% 1 1.0% 103
For 2015/16:
Information is available from page 23 of the annual report. I have set
this out below too.
[1]https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/sites/defau...
In 2015/16, we handled 593 formal complaints about our service. We
resolved 110 at the first point of contact. We upheld 163 of the formal
service complaints we looked at. We did not uphold 320 service complaints.
Please note that our customer care team established in December 2014 is
the first point of contact for anyone with concerns that they have not
been able to sort out with the team directly responsible for it. In
previous years, i.e. for 2014/15, some complaints about our service may
have been handled by line managers and not recorded centrally, so year on
year figures are not comparable.
I hope this reply is helpful. If you believe I have made an error in the
way I have processed your information request, it is open to you to
request an internal review. You can do this by writing to us by post or by
email to [2][Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman request email]. You will need to specify
what the nature of the issue is and we can consider the matter further.
Beyond that, it is open to you to complain to the Information
Commissioner’s Office ([3]www.ico.org.uk).
Yours sincerely,
Freedom of Information / Data Protection Officer
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
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D. Speers left an annotation ()
Hmmmm Interesting!