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Dear Ms Sollazzi,

Your information request - IR1-4592468771

Thank you for your email dated 11 September.

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.

Yours sincerely

Information Access Team

General Medical Council

3 Hardman Street

Manchester

M3 3AW

From: Susan Sollazzi <[FOI #1173714 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2024 11:16 AM
To: FOI <[email address]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Qualifications of AA and PA
registrants

Dear General Medical Council, The Medical Act 1983. Part II, 4, details
'Qualifying examinations and primary United Kingdom qualifications'. All
the qualifications are those of doctors. not PAs or AAs. While the
Anaesthesia Associates and Physician

Dear General Medical Council,

The Medical Act 1983. Part II, 4, details 'Qualifying examinations and primary United Kingdom qualifications'.  All the qualifications are those of doctors. not PAs or AAs.

While the Anaesthesia Associates and Physician Associates Order 2024 has been published more recently, it does not set out the qualifications to be presented by potential registrants who are, or claim to be, AAs or PAs in an equivalent manner.

The GMC’s overarching objective (again I refer to the Medical Act 1983, section 1) is to protect the public, and involves the  pursuit of the following objectives:

(a) to protect, promote and maintain the health, safety and well-being of

the public,

(b) to promote and maintain public confidence in the medical profession,

and

(c) to promote and maintain proper professional standards and conduct for

members of that profession

If no training standards are established for AAs and PAs, how is it possible to meet any one of those statutory objectives? Please provide any relevant documents, including minutes of meetings where this issue was discussed.

Yours faithfully,

Susan Sollazzi

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[1][FOI #1173714 email]

Is [2][GMC request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests to General Medical Council? If so, please contact us using this form:

[3]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[4]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

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[5]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

[6]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

show quoted sections

Dear Susan Sollazzi,

Your information requests - IR1-4592468771 and IR1-4600579539

Thank you for your emails dated 11 September and 20 September 2024. I have
considered your requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

I have looked at your two separate requests made on the above dates but
have combined my response as follows.

I am unable to provide you with the information you have requested. This
is because of the amount of data you’ve asked for and the work that would
be involved. Under FOIA there’s an exemption for requests where it would
cost the public authority more than £450 to process - equivalent to 18
hours. This is based on an hourly rate of £25 per hour, which is set by
the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
This amount is called the ‘appropriate limit.’ To estimate the cost, we
can take into account determining, locating, retrieving and extracting the
information requested.

Amalgamation of requests

When a public authority estimates whether the appropriate limit is likely
to be exceeded, the [1]Freedom of Information and Data Protection
(Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 states that it can include
the costs of complying with two or more requests so long as the requests:

• Relate, to any extent, to the same or similar information, and

• Are received within any period of 60 consecutive working days.

I am including your requests made on 22 July, 5 August, 23 August, 11
September and 20 September 2024 when determining if the ‘appropriate
limit’ is exceeded which relate to information about the regulation of
Physician Associates and/or Anaesthesia Associates. These requests have
been made within a period of 60 consecutive working days.

The exemption

Under the FOIA, the specific exemption which we believe applies is at
section 12. This states that we are not required to comply with a request
if we estimate that the cost of doing so would exceed the appropriate
limit.

In my email of 30 August 2024, I explained that we are not required to
comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of doing so would
exceed the appropriate limit. I also provided a breakdown of how your
amalgamated requests exceeded the cost limit. This was based on 6,003
applications for voluntary erasure since January 2023 and taking 8 minutes
to review each application. Based on an hourly rate of £25 per hour (which
is set by the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit)
Regulations 2004) this would cost us significantly in excess of the
‘appropriate limit’ to process.

I believe that these two requests are also subject to the same exemption
under s.12 FOIA applies when considering your requests collectively in
accordance with the amalgamation rules set out above.

Advice and assistance

You can narrow the scope of any of your previous requests by focusing on
one question or choosing to focus on one of your previous requests.
However, I should add that the s.12 exemption under the FOIA (or another
exemption) may still be applicable to any requests you raise in the
future.

Your right to appeal

If you would like to appeal this decision please set out your reasons in
writing to [2][GMC request email]. Please note that we will only usually
consider appeals received within 40 working days of our response. You can
also appeal to the [3]Information Commissioner, the regulator of the FOIA
and DPA.

Kind regards

Henna Janghir

Information Access Officer

General Medical Council

3 Hardman Street

Manchester

M3 3AW

Email: [4][email address]

Tel: 0161 923 6710

Website: [5]www.gmc-uk.org

From: FOI
Sent: Monday, September 16, 2024 2:47 PM
To: Susan Sollazzi <[FOI #1173714 email]>
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - Qualifications of AA and PA
registrants

Dear Ms Sollazzi,

Your information request - IR1-4592468771

Thank you for your email dated 11 September.

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.

Yours sincerely

Information Access Team

General Medical Council

3 Hardman Street

Manchester

M3 3AW

From: Susan Sollazzi <[6][FOI #1173714 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2024 11:16 AM
To: FOI <[7][email address]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Qualifications of AA and PA
registrants

Dear General Medical Council, The Medical Act 1983. Part II, 4, details
'Qualifying examinations and primary United Kingdom qualifications'. All
the qualifications are those of doctors. not PAs or AAs. While the
Anaesthesia Associates and Physician

Dear General Medical Council,

The Medical Act 1983. Part II, 4, details 'Qualifying examinations and primary United Kingdom qualifications'.  All the qualifications are those of doctors. not PAs or AAs.

While the Anaesthesia Associates and Physician Associates Order 2024 has been published more recently, it does not set out the qualifications to be presented by potential registrants who are, or claim to be, AAs or PAs in an equivalent manner.

The GMC’s overarching objective (again I refer to the Medical Act 1983, section 1) is to protect the public, and involves the  pursuit of the following objectives:

(a) to protect, promote and maintain the health, safety and well-being of

the public,

(b) to promote and maintain public confidence in the medical profession,

and

(c) to promote and maintain proper professional standards and conduct for

members of that profession

If no training standards are established for AAs and PAs, how is it possible to meet any one of those statutory objectives? Please provide any relevant documents, including minutes of meetings where this issue was discussed.

Yours faithfully,

Susan Sollazzi

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[8][FOI #1173714 email]

Is [9][GMC request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests to General Medical Council? If so, please contact us using this form:

[10]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[11]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the latest advice from the ICO:

[12]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

[13]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

show quoted sections