Quarterly financial monitoring returns

The request was successful.

Peter Collingbourne

Dear Sir or Madam,

I would like to request a copy of all data provided to Monitor by means of the quarterly financial monitoring returns supplied by each NHS Foundation Trust for the financial years 2007-08, 2006-07, 2005-06. Ideally, if all the data is loaded into a single database I would like to receive a complete database export of the relevant data from said database.

I require disclosure in a non-proprietary, unencrypted electronic format customarily used for electronic data exchange other than PDF (such as CSV).

Yours faithfully,

Peter Collingbourne

John Vallance, Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts

Dear Mr Collingbourne,

I acknowledge receipt of your email below.

Your request will be dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act
2000. We will respond to your request promptly and in any event not later
than the twentieth working day following date of receipt, i.e., 27
February 2009.

Yours sincerely

John Vallance | Legal Adviser

Monitor Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts

Direct Line 020 7340 2499 | [1]www.monitor-nhsft.gov.uk
4 Matthew Parker Street, London, SW1H 9NL

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John Vallance, Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts

Dear Mr Collingbourne,

Further to my email of 4 February 2009, I am writing to ask you for
further information in relation to your request for information.

You have specified in your email that you require disclosure in a
non-proprietary, unencrypted electronic format customarily used for
electronic data exchange other than PDF. In order to determine whether we
can comply with this request, please advise whether supplying the
information using Microsoft Excel is acceptable. As you are aware, we
will need to respond to your request by no later than 27 February 2009.
Accordingly, if I have not heard from you by 5pm on Thursday 19 February
2009 I will assume that Microsoft Excel format is acceptable to you.

Your response will be relevant to our decision as to whether to
communicate the information to you. The reason for this is that the work
involved in providing the information in a format other than Microsoft
Excel will, to a significant extent, be time consuming. As a result, the
cost of the work that would be required is likely to exceed the
appropriate limit under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Please also provide a postal address to which the information can be sent.
Delivery using this method, rather than email, will enable us to reduce
the time to deal with your request.

Thank you for your assistance.

Yours sincerely

John Vallance | Legal Adviser

Monitor Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts

Direct Line 020 7340 2499 | [1]www.monitor-nhsft.gov.uk
4 Matthew Parker Street, London, SW1H 9NL

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Peter Collingbourne

Dear Mr Vallance,

Thank you for your email.

Please note that The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 specify the circumstances in which a public authority may attribute estimated costs incurred in relation to a request towards the appropriate limit. These are given under subsection 4(3) of the Regulations. The specific activity you have mentioned in your letter falls under subsection 6(3)(a) and thus 6(2)(b). Please also note the proviso of subsection 6(4). It was clearly the legislative intent that those activities mentioned in subsection 4(3) are not to overlap with those specified in subsection 6(2), as evidenced by the presence of both of those activities within the subparts of subsection 7(2). This viewpoint is backed up by ICO guidance entitled "Freedom of Information Act -- Using the Fees Regulations" [1]:

"Regulation 6 sets out the activities that can be charged for in complying with section 1 (1) of the FOIA, but these are not the activities used in the estimation of whether the appropriate limit has been reached."

In conclusion I would therefore argue that the activity of converting information into another format is not covered under any of the activities specified under subsection 4(3).

Nevertheless, I wish to minimise the workload on your organisation and obtain the data in a mutually convenient format. If at all possible I would like to avoid Microsoft formats as they are proprietary and I may therefore encounter difficulties in reading them, together with the risk that any method I may use to read them may lead to inaccuracies. In order that we may agree on an appropriate format, would you please be able to answer the questions I ask below.

Can you please tell me more about the process your organisation follows when it receives a return, in particular the process it undergoes in order to analyse the financial data contained within the return. Is the data transferred into a single standardised document (it need not be a database) for any purpose? How was the table on page 10 of your most recent quarterly report produced? Does your organisation use a computer program to assist in the production of financial risk ratings, and if so what is the format of its input file and what data is contained within it?

I am puzzled by your assertion that delivery by post instead of email will reduce the time taken to deal with the request. Surely the effort involved in sending an email would be less than that involved in finding a CD, burning the data, and posting it? If your concern relates to the size of the file, please note that the website I am using provides an upload facility for large files [2]. Also for privacy reasons I would rather not give you my postal address unless absolutely necessary.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Collingbourne

[1] http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/l...

[2] http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/upload/req...

John Vallance, Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts

Thank you for your email. I will be out of the office until Monday 16
February 2009. If your query is urgent, please contact Carla Wilson on
020 7340 2489.

Sharon Hunter, Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts

Dear Mr Collingbourne

I refer to your email sent to John Vallance on 13 February. I am
writing to you in John's absence.

Please find following our response to your questions. Having regard to
this response, please advise whether you will accept the requested
information in Microsoft Excel format. If you require any further
information, I am happy to discuss this with you. I can be contacted on
0207 340 2400. I would be grateful for your prompt reply.

Q. Can you please tell me more about the process your organisation
follows when it receives a return, in particular the process it
undergoes in order to analyse the financial data contained within
the return. Is the data transferred into a single standardised
document (it need not be a database) for any purpose?

A. Currently we a) load the data from each Excel return into an
Oracle/Hyperion
financial management database and also b) create a Microsoft Access
database
containing the data from all the financial returns received. We
ensure
both systems report the same numbers as a check. Our systems have
developed
over time and the same process was not in use for the whole period
being
queried.

Q. How was the table on page 10 of your most recent quarterly report
produced?

A. Using Microsoft Excel to extract as a pivot table and format the
data from
the Microsoft Access database.

Q. Does your organisation use a computer program to assist in the
production of financial risk ratings, and if so what is the format
of its input file and what data is contained within it?

A. Financial risk ratings are calculated both by Microsoft Excel and
by Oracle/Hyperion
financial management system. We ensure both systems report the same
numbers as a check.
All input files are Excel 2002 *.xls files, the data contained in
these files is as
specified in the Compliance Framework appendix D.

Kind regards

Sharon Hunter | Legal Adviser

Monitor - Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts

Direct Line 020 7340 2423 | www.monitor-nhsft.gov.uk
4 Matthew Parker Street, London, SW1H 9NP

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Peter Collingbourne

Dear Ms Hunter,

Having now considered your response of 19 January, I have reason to believe that the process of creating a CSV format export from an Microsoft Access database can be done automatically using the Microsoft Access software. I therefore propose that the best way for this data to be provided is in CSV format for any period for which a Microsoft Access database is held, and in Microsoft Excel format for any other periods.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Collingbourne

Sharon Hunter, Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts

Thank you for your email. I am out of the office for the rest of the
day. I can be contacted on my mobile 07738 183593.

Kind regards

Sharon

John Vallance, Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Collingbourne,

Please find attached a letter of today's date containing Monitor's
decision in relation to your recent request under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

As you will see in this letter, Monitor has decided to give you full
access to the information that you have requested.

However, in order to do so, Monitor will need to send 34 files to you,
which contain approximately 149 megabytes. You have indicated that you
wish this information to be uploaded to the whatdotheyknow.com website.
This website does not permit more than one file to be uploaded at any one
time without contacting the website administrator. Monitor has therefore
contacted the website administrator for permission to upload the files
simultaneously.

Yours sincerely

John Vallance | Legal Adviser

Monitor Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts

Direct Line 020 7340 2499 | [1]www.monitor-nhsft.gov.uk
4 Matthew Parker Street, London, SW1H 9NL

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Peter Collingbourne

Dear Mr Vallance,

Thank you for Ms Wilson's letter granting my request in full. In order that the files may all be uploaded at once, may I suggest that you upload a compressed "zip" file containing all of the files? I understand that the ability to create a "zip" file is built into the Windows operating system. Please see the instructions below.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Collingbourne

"If you're using Windows XP, it already has the ability to create .zip files.

To create a .zip file, first select all of the files you want to add. Then, right-click the files, select "Send To" and "Compressed (zipped) Folder"."

Monitor, Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts

1 Attachment

  • Attachment

    FOI request Peter Collingbourne.zip

    21.0M Download

I am pleased to be able to attach the doceuments as requested.