Dear Mr Stapleton,  

 

Thank you for your communication dated 3 November 2016.

 

NHS England has assessed your communication as a request under the Freedom
of Information (FOI) Act 2000. As such, please be assured that your
request is being dealt with under the terms of the FOI Act and will be
answered within twenty working days.

 

For further information regarding the FOI Act, please refer to the
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website. For further information
regarding NHS England and the information it publishes please visit our
website here.

 

If you have any queries about this request or wish to contact us again,
please email [1][NHS England request email] and the message will be
forwarded appropriately. Please remember to quote the above reference
number in any future communications.

 

Please do not reply to this email. This message has been sent from a
central mailbox. To communicate with NHS England regarding Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests, enquiries or complaints we ask these are sent
directly to NHS England’s customer contact centre. This is to ensure all
communications are progressed correctly. Their postal address, telephone
number and email details are as follows:- PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT;
0300 3 11 22 33, [2][NHS England request email].

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Freedom of Information

Corporate Communications Team

Transformation and Corporate Operations Directorate

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Tel: 0300 311 22 33

Email: [3][NHS England request email]

 

‘High quality care for all, now and for future generations’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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1. mailto:[NHS England request email]
2. mailto:[NHS England request email]
3. mailto:[NHS England request email]

Dear Mr Stapleton,

 

We are writing with regard to your Freedom of Information request dated 03
November 2016.

 

Please accept our sincere apologies for the delay in responding to your
request. Please be assured that we are continuing to progress your request
and will write to provide you with a further update on 08 December 2016,
if your response is not complete by this time.

 

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. Please be aware, if you
are dissatisfied with the handling of your request you have the right to
ask for an internal review by writing to us, within two months of the date
of this letter, to:-

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Email: [1][NHS England request email] 

 

Please quote your reference number as provided above.

 

Please note, that as you have not yet received a response to your request,
any Internal Review will only be able to review the handling of your case
to date, and is unlikely to expedite a response.

 

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’s Office (ICO) can be contacted
at:-

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Email: [2][email address]  

Website: [3]www.ico.gov.uk

 

If you have any queries about this request or wish to contact us again,
please email [4][NHS England request email] and the message will be
forwarded appropriately. Please remember to quote the above reference
number in any future communications.

 

Please do not reply to this email. This message has been sent from a
central mailbox. To communicate with NHS England regarding Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests, enquiries or complaints we ask these are sent
directly to NHS England’s customer contact centre. This is to ensure all
communications are progressed correctly. Their postal address, telephone
number and email details are as follows:- PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT;
0300 3 11 22 33, [5][NHS England request email].

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Freedom of Information

Corporate Communications Team

Transformation and Corporate Operations Directorate

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Tel: 0300 311 22 33

Email: [6][NHS England request email]

 

 

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References

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1. mailto:[NHS England request email]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
4. mailto:[NHS England request email]
5. mailto:[NHS England request email]
6. mailto:[NHS England request email]

Dear Mr Stapleton,

 

Thank you for your email dated 6 January 2017. Please see this email as
acknowledgement of your Internal Review request.

 

We endeavour to respond to Internal Reviews within 20 working days.
However, please be aware that on some occasions this has been extended to
40 working days. An officer will be allocated to handle your Internal
Review and will update you accordingly where necessary.

 

If you have any queries about this request or wish to contact us again,
please email [1][NHS England request email] and the message will be
forwarded appropriately. Please remember to quote the above reference
number in any future communications.

 

Please do not reply to this email. This message has been sent from a
central mailbox. To communicate with NHS England regarding Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests, enquiries or complaints we ask these are sent
directly to NHS England’s customer contact centre. This is to ensure all
communications are progressed correctly. Their postal address, telephone
number and email details are as follows:- PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT;
0300 3 11 22 33, [2][NHS England request email].

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Freedom of Information

Corporate Communications Team

Transformation and Corporate Operations Directorate

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Tel: 0300 311 22 33

Email: [3][NHS England request email]

 

‘High quality care for all, now and for future generations’

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[NHS England request email]
2. mailto:[NHS England request email]
3. mailto:[NHS England request email]

Dear Mr Stapleton,

 

Re:      Freedom of Information request (Our Ref: FOI-036137)

 

Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FOI) request dated 3 November
2016.

 

Your exact request was:-

 

“Please can you send me a copy of the Primary Care Support Outline
Business Case and associated documents.”

 

NHS England holds this information, which is attached as a PDF document.

 

Please note that some of this information has been redacted under section
40(2) (personal information) of the FOI Act, as the information
constitutes third party data. Section 40(2) provides that personal data
about third parties is exempt information if one of the conditions set out
in section 40(3) is satisfied. Under the FOI Act disclosure of this
information would breach the fair processing principle contained in the
Data Protection Act (DPA), where it would be unfair to that person/is
confidential. Section 40(2) is an absolute exemption and therefore not
subject to the public interest test when considering disclosure of
information.

 

We also consider that some information is exempt under Section 43(2) of
the FOI Act. Section 43 exempts from the general duty to release
information which would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial
interests of any person, including the public authority holding the
information.

 

Section 43 is a prejudice based exemption and, as such, we are required to
assess both the prejudice test and the public interest test in withholding
this information against that of its release.

 

When assessing the prejudice test we need to demonstrate that there would
be an impact on the commercial interests of any person if this information
were to be disclosed. We believe that to disclose this information would
impact on the commercial interests of NHS England.

 

We believe that to disclose this information, which includes cost
structures, commercial risks and expected pricing information, would
impact on the commercial interests of NHS England by revealing information
about NHS England’s negotiating strategy in procuring the contract for
primary care support services. This would prejudice NHS England’s
commercial interest in the ongoing contract for primary care support
services that has now been let. Additionally we consider that this would
negatively impact NHS England’s ability to secure value for money in
future, for example if the contract were to be re-negotiated, as this
could allow competitor organisations to adjust pricing, services and/or
bids in order to gain a commercial advantage in future tenders. 

 

As a result, it is in our opinion that this sufficiently demonstrates the
prejudice which would be caused through disclosure.

 

NHS England is also required to conduct the public interest test, which
assesses whether releasing the information would be in the public interest
despite the prejudice test being satisfied. It is important to bear in
mind that any disclosure under the FOI Act is a disclosure to the public
at large and not just to the applicant. We recognise that there is a
general public interest in information relating to contracts involving
public money being open and transparent. However, we do not believe that
this public interest is served in disclosure for damage that would be
caused as outlined above.

 

Therefore, we consider that releasing this information would not be in the
public interest, as the public interest does not outweigh the prejudice as
set out above.

 

Copyright:- NHS England operates under the terms of the open government
licence. Please see the NHS England Terms and conditions on the following
link [1]http://www.england.nhs.uk/terms-and-cond...

 

We also note that you have an open Internal Review request, in which you
have expressed concerns regarding the length of time it has taken to
provide a response to your request. Please accept our sincere apologies
for this delay, which was as a result of a breakdown to internal process.
We recognise that there is no provision within the FOI Act to extend
deadlines, and apologise for any inconvenience as a result of this delay.
We will be writing to you separately to provide a formal response to your
Internal Review request.

 

If, further to our final response as set out above, you would like NHS
England to conduct an Internal Review looking at the content of the
response, rather than the delay, you can find details of how to request
this below.

 

We hope this information is helpful. However, if you are dissatisfied, you
have the right to ask for an internal review by writing to us, within two
months of the date of this letter, to:

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Email: [2][NHS England request email]

 

Please quote the reference number FOI-036137 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’s Office (ICO) can be contacted at:

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Email: [3][email address]  

Website: [4]www.ico.gov.uk

 

Please note there is no charge for making an appeal.

 

Please be aware that in line with the Information Commissioner’s directive
on the disclosure of information under the FOI Act, your request will be
anonymised and published on our website as part of our disclosure log.

 

Please do not reply to this email. This message has been sent from a
central mailbox. To communicate with NHS England regarding Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests, enquiries or complaints we ask these are sent
directly to NHS England’s customer contact centre. This is to ensure all
communications are progressed correctly. Their postal address, telephone
number and email details are as follows:- PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT;
0300 3 11 22 33, [5][NHS England request email].

   

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Freedom of Information

Corporate Communications Team

Transformation and Corporate Operations Directorate

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Tel: 0300 311 22 33

Email: [6][NHS England request email]

 

‘High quality care for all, now and for future generations’

 

 

 

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.england.nhs.uk/terms-and-cond...
2. mailto:[NHS England request email]
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
5. mailto:[NHS England request email]
6. mailto:[NHS England request email]