Request for Hearing Information

Waiting for an internal review by Health and Care Professions Council of their handling of this request.

Dear Health and Care Professions Council,

Please could you provide all Hearing and Panel Decisions for the following case, dating back to 16/03/2020 this information is not available on your website but I'm advised it can be shared on request.

Name: Ruth Lambert
Registration Number: PA31273
Recent Hearing: 13:00 05/04/2022

Yours faithfully,

Mr Evans

FOI, Health and Care Professions Council

Dear Mr Evans

 

Thank you for your email of 9 May 2022, in which you ask for a copy of all
hearing and panel decisions for a HCPC registrant.

 

We are treating this as a request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 (FOIA).

 

We will deal with your request as promptly as possible and at the latest,
within 20 working days of receiving it, as required by the FOIA. If you
have any queries about your request please do contact us using this email
address.

 

The reference number for your request is FR07533.

 

Kind regards

 

Freedom of Information

 

Health and Care Professions Council

Park House, 184 - 186 Kennington Park Road, London SE11 4BU

[1]www.hcpc-uk.org

 

Follow us on [2]Facebook, [3]LinkedIn, [4]Twitter and [5]YouTube​
​Please consider the environment before printing this email
Correspondence is welcome in English or Welsh / Gallwch ohebu yn Gymraeg
neu Saesneg

 

 

show quoted sections

FOI, Health and Care Professions Council

Our Ref. FR07533

 

 

Dear Mr Evans

 

Thank you for your email of 9 May 2022, in which you ask for a copy of all
hearing and panel decisions for Ruth Lambert, PA31273.

 

Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(FOIA).

 

I can confirm that the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) holds
the information you have requested. However, we are unable to disclose
this to you. This is because the information requested forms part of an
investigation case file and disclosure to you would prejudice the ability
of the HCPC to conduct its fitness to practise process.

 

The exemptions we rely on for this non-disclosure are Sections
30(2)(a)(iii) and 40 of the FOIA. If we were not withholding the
information under Section 30(2)(a)(iii) of the FOIA, Section 31(1)(g) of
the Act would apply.

 

I have set out below the exemptions cited in more detail to assist you to
understand our position on disclosure.

 

Section 30

 

Section 30(2)(a)(iii) applies to information held by a public authority
relating to its confidential statutory investigations into ascertaining a
person’s fitness or competence in relation to their profession.

 

The information you request is part of an investigation by the HCPC to
ascertain whether a registrant’s fitness to practise is impaired.
Maintaining the confidentiality of our investigation process is essential
in order to enable the HCPC to correctly assess a registrant’s fitness to
practise and protect the public. To disclose this information would cause
a negative effect on the HCPC’s relationships with registrants, witnesses
and employers involved in our fitness to practise cases. This would lead
to involved parties being less willing to assist us in our investigations.

 

Section 31

 

Section 31(1)(g) applies where ‘information which is not exempt
information by virtue of Section 30 is exempt information if its
disclosure under [FOIA] would, or would be likely to, prejudice…the
exercise by any public authority of its functions for any of the purposes
specified in subsection (2)’, which include ‘ascertaining whether any
person is responsible for any conduct which is improper.’

 

Section 40

 

This exemption applies to personal data of which you are the subject, or
which relates to a third party. Disclosure of this information would
breach the principles of data protection set out in Article 5(1) of the UK
General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), in particular principle (a)
that personal data should be processed lawfully, fairly and in a
transparent manner. Ruth Lambert would not reasonably expect that we would
further disclose this information for non-regulatory purposes. If the HCPC
were to do so it would be unfair processing, this would not be lawful.

 

Public Interest Test

 

The public interest test must be applied in relation to certain exemptions
under the FOIA. The test requires that the public interest in maintaining
the exemption (refusing to disclose the information) should be weighed
against the public interest in disclosing the information. The public
interest test does not apply to the exemption in Section 40, which is an
absolute exemption, but must be considered in relation to Sections 30 and
31.

 

In this case, the statutory objective of the HCPC is to protect the public
and maintaining confidentiality during the investigative process is often
an important part of attaining that objective. Correspondence relating to
our fitness to practise process is confidential.

 

We publish information relating to interim orders in line with our
[1]Fitness to practise publications policy. Whilst an interim order has
been imposed there has been no finding of fact and it would therefore be
unfair to Ruth Lambert to disclose any further information held in
relation to the investigation at this stage. In interim order hearings,
the Panel considers whether it is necessary to make an order affecting an
individual's registration for the protection of the public or otherwise in
the public interest or in the interest of the individual concerned pending
the outcome of an inquiry by one of the Practice Committees. The Panel
conducts a risk assessment only. The Panel does not investigate the
allegations or conduct a fact-finding exercise. These functions are
reserved for the Practice Committee. As the Panel will often be
considering a matter at an early stage of the HCPC investigation, it may
only have limited information available at the time of the hearing.
Allegations may be added to or amended prior to the matter being
determined by a Practice Committee.

 

Should the matter be referred to a final hearing and the panel determine
to impose a sanction, all details will be displayed on our website.

 

Taking these arguments into consideration we have concluded that in
respect of the information which has been withheld, the public interest in
maintaining the exemptions outweighs the public interest in making the
disclosure.

 

Internal review

 

If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been
handled, you can request a review by writing to:

 

Governance Department

Health and Care Professions Council

Park House

184 - 186 Kennington Park Road

London

SE11 4BU

 

Email: [2][email address]

 

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint,
you have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

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

 

There is no charge for making an appeal.

 

Kind regards

 

Freedom of Information

 

Health and Care Professions Council

Park House, 184 - 186 Kennington Park Road, London SE11 4BU

[4]www.hcpc-uk.org

 

Follow us on [5]Facebook, [6]LinkedIn, [7]Twitter and [8]YouTube​
​Please consider the environment before printing this email
Correspondence is welcome in English or Welsh / Gallwch ohebu yn Gymraeg
neu Saesneg

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear Health and Care Professions Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Health and Care Professions Council's handling of my FOI request 'Request for Hearing Information'.

This information is in the public domain as these hearing held are public and can be attended by any member of the public. These cases have already been fully investigated and have interim orders in place, therefore this would not prejudice any investigation.
As these persons are registered with the HCPC and are still currently practicing clinicians it is in the public interest for this information to be released.
The HCPC has a policy of releasing this information on request.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r...

Yours faithfully,

Mr Evans

FOI, Health and Care Professions Council

Dear Mr Evans

 

Thank you for your email dated 9 June 2022, the contents of which has been
noted.

 

As you are unhappy with our response sent to you on 8 June 2022 your
request has been escalated for an internal review and as such has now been
passed to the Head of Governance.

 

We aim to respond to your internal review as soon as possible and at the
latest, within 20 working days of receiving it.

 

The reference number for your request is FR07569.

 

Kind regards

 

Freedom of Information

 

Health and Care Professions Council

Park House, 184 - 186 Kennington Park Road, London SE11 4BU

[1]www.hcpc-uk.org

 

Follow us on [2]Facebook, [3]LinkedIn, [4]Twitter and [5]YouTube​
​Please consider the environment before printing this email
Correspondence is welcome in English or Welsh / Gallwch ohebu yn Gymraeg
neu Saesneg

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear FOI,

This review is now 5 Working Days overdue. Please could you review and respond.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Evans

Dear Health and Care Professions Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

This internal review is currently overdue, if I receive no contact from you within the next 5 working days I will have no option but to take this up with Information Commissioners Office.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r...

Yours faithfully,

Mr Evans