Psychiatrist Dr Jane Mary McLennan struck off - COSTS
Dear General Medical Council,
I am interested in the costs associated with the case of the Edinburgh-based psychiatrist Dr Jane Mary McLennan, who was struck off the medical register. Details of the hearing no longer appear to be available on your website, perhaps deleted after a year in line with your standard policy:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/m...
Her appeal to the Court of Session was refused ([2020] CSIH 12XA35/19) :
https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/docs/defau...
The Opinion of the Court records that the MPT hearing comprised 26 days of evidence heard over the course of a year.
I understand that your cost records of cases are limited:
"We are not able to provide an answer to your request as the information is not held. A large part of the cost of carrying out an investigation is the cost of GMC staff working on the case. However, GMC staff do not record how many hours they have worked on a particular investigation. Because of this there is no method by which we could calculate how much was spent on each investigation. I’m sorry I am not able to be more helpful."
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...
However, you may be able to provide me with some useful information:
1. Please provide copies of any internal communications referring to the costs of hearing the case of Dr Jane Mary McLennan.
2. Please provide the job titles and salary bands of all GMC/MPTS staff who are required to attend an MPT hearing.
3. Please provide details of the fees generally paid to the tribunal Chair and wing members, if not salaried staff.
4. Please provide details of all allowances available to those participating in a MPT hearing – meals, accommodation etc
5. For the year 2019/20, please provide the total claimed in expenses by those who participated in hearings. Breakdown the figure to show amounts for food, travel, accommodation etc.
6. In the past three years, how many days did the longest five hearing each last?
Yours faithfully,
J Roberts
Thank you for getting in touch. Please note this is an automated email.
Unfortunately, due to the current pandemic outbreak we are operating at
reduced capacity. It may therefore take us longer to respond to your
correspondence. We apologise for any inconvenience caused but we’ll get
back to you as soon as we can with a further acknowledgement.
In the meantime, if you want any further information about the GMC, please
visit our website.
Thank you
Information access team
General Medical Council
Email: [GMC request email]
Telephone: 0161 923 6365
Working with doctors Working for patients
The General Medical Council helps to protect patients and improve medical
education and practice in the UK by setting standards for students and
doctors. We support them in achieving (and exceeding) those standards, and
take action when they are not met.
Dear J Roberts,
Your information request – IR1-2707879438
Thank you for your email dated 4 June, in which you ask for the below:
1. Please provide copies of any internal communications referring to the
costs of hearing the case of Dr Jane Mary McLennan.
2. Please provide the job titles and salary bands of all GMC/MPTS staff
who are required to attend an MPT hearing.
3. Please provide details of the fees generally paid to the tribunal
Chair and wing members, if not salaried staff.
4. Please provide details of all allowances available to those
participating in a MPT hearing – meals, accommodation etc
5. For the year 2019/20, please provide the total claimed in expenses by
those who participated in hearings. Breakdown the figure to show amounts
for food, travel, accommodation etc.
6. In the past three years, how many days did the longest five hearing
each last?
How we will consider your request
We’re going to consider your request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 (FOIA). The FOIA gives us 20 working days to respond, but we’ll come
back to you as soon as we can.
Who to contact
Louise Gormley will be handling your request. If you have any questions
you can contact her via email at [1][email address].
Unfortunately, due to the pandemic outbreak we are currently operating at
reduced capacity. It may therefore take us longer to respond to your
request. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Yours sincerely
Lauren Barrowcliffe
Information Access Team Assistant
General Medical Council
3 Hardman Street
Manchester
M3 3AW
Our reference: IR1-2707879438
Dear Mr Roberts
Thank you for your request for information about MPTS hearings, I
apologise for the delay in responding to you. Your request has been
considered in accordance with the access provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Please find below responses to each of your
requests:
Please provide the job titles and salary bands of all GMC/MPTS staff who
are required to attend an MPT hearing
There is no legal requirement to have any staff attend, but currently we
allocate a Tribunal Clerk in every hearing and Tribunal Assistants assist
hearings where necessary (usually across multiple hearings). I provide
details of the salary band for both roles below:
MPTS Tribunal Clerk
Manchester Level 4 salary band £25,983 - £37,599
MPTS Tribunal Assistant
Manchester Level 6 salary band £18,746 - £24,895
Please provide details of the fees generally paid to the tribunal Chair
and wing members, if not salaried staff
Information about MPTS associate fees, can be found on the following page
of our website:
[1]MPTS Associates fees
Please provide details of all allowances available to those participating
in a MPT hearing – meals, accommodation etc
The associates expenses policy can be found on the following page of our
website:
[2]Associates expenses policy
For the year 2019/20 (6 April 2019 to 5 April 2020) , please provide the
total claimed in expenses by those who participated in hearings.
Breakdown the figure to show amounts for food, travel, accommodation etc.
MPT Hearing expenses claim costs 2019-2020 Totals (£)
Associate Airfares 61,024.11
Associate First class rail travel 14,982.03
Associate Standard class rail travel 150,137.37
Associate Mileage 85,356.28
Associate Taxis 22,270.14
Associate Other Travel Costs 40,747.58
Associate Hotel 592,857.69
Associate Non-hotel Accommodation Allowance 4,196.50
Associate Subsistence 108,874.34
Total expenses claimed 1,080,446.04
In the past three years, how many days did the longest five hearings each
last?
Hearing 1 – 74 days
Hearing 2 – 67 days
Hearing 3 – 66 days
Hearing 4 – 65 days
Hearing 5 – 61 days
In response to your request for the internal communications relating to
the hearing of Dr Jane Mary McLennan, I write to inform you that I believe
this information to be exempt from disclosure, the exemption I believe
applies is listed below:
The exemption
Section 40(2), by virtue of section 40(3A)(a)
This exemption applies where the information is the personal data of a
third party and where releasing the information would breach any of the
principles relating to the processing of personal data listed at Article 5
of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In this instance
disclosure would breach the first principle, which requires the processing
of information to be lawful, fair and transparent. I do not believe that
any of the legal bases for processing listed at Article 6 of the GDPR are
met and therefore giving you the information would be unlawful.
Your right to appeal
I am sorry I have been unable to provide all the information you
requested. You can appeal against my decision to Julian Graves,
Information Access Manager. If you want to appeal, please set out your
reasons and email [3][email address]
You can also appeal to the Information Commissioner, the regulator of the
FOIA – we can provide more details about this if you need them.
Kind regards
Louise
Louise Gormley
Information Access Officer
Resources Directorate
Direct Line: 0161 923 6311
Email: [4][email address]
Website: [5]www.gmc-uk.org
Address: Information Access Team
General Medical Council
3 Hardman Street
Manchester
M3 3AW
Working with doctors Working for patients
The General Medical Council helps to protect patients and improve medical
education and practice in the UK by setting standards for students and
doctors. We support them in achieving (and exceeding) those standards, and
take action when they are not met.
J Roberts left an annotation ()
Longest hearings in past 3 years:
'Hearing 1 – 74 days
Hearing 2 – 67 days
Hearing 3 – 66 days
Hearing 4 – 65 days
Hearing 5 – 61 days'
The recent hearing of Dr Richard Freeman GMC ref no 2854524 lasted 93 days:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/d...
'6. At the time of the events, Dr Freeman was practising as a Team Doctor for British Cycling; the National Governing Body for cycle sport in Great Britain.'
Dr Freeman has appealed.
J Roberts left an annotation ()
The link to the MPT decision is broken (the MPTS remove decisions after a year).
The decision, however, is available on the GMC's List of Registered Medical Practitioners (LRMP):
https://www.gmc-uk.org/doctors/2991687
click 'Doctor's history' then 'view details'.
We work to defend the right to FOI for everyone
Help us protect your right to hold public authorities to account. Donate and support our work.
Donate Now
J Roberts left an annotation ()
I'm surprised by the number of days the longest hearings lasted. I was expecting 26 days to be at the upper end.