Services to Foster Carers
Dear Southern Health and Social Care Trust (Northern Ireland),
I am writing to make a request for all the following information which I am entitled to under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Please provide a copy of the following information related to commissioned services to foster carers and kinship carers in your Trust area. Please provide details of the spending broken down by financial year for each of the last 3 years (2023-24, 2022-23, 2021-22)
1) The total spent to purchase carers' membership of the Fostering Network each year.
2) The total spent on commissioned carer ‘independent’ support and advocacy services associated with allegations and complaints made against carers each year.
3) Please provide copies of the most recent evaluations of each of these services.
4) Please provide copies of the Trust’s documented Public Patient involvement (PPI) of carers in the planning, commissioning, and evaluation of membership services of the Fostering Network as required by the Health and Social Care Reform Act (NI) 2009)
5) Please provide copies of the Trust’s documented Public Patient involvement (PPI) of carers in the planning, commissioning, and evaluation of the ‘independent’ support and advocacy service associated with allegations and complaints made against carers from the Fostering Network as required by the Health and Social Care Reform Act (NI) 2009).
I would like the above information to be provided to me as an electronic copy.
If the request is too broad or unclear, I would be grateful if you could contact me as I understand under the Act you are required to advise and assist requesters. If any of the information is already in the public domain, please send it to me directly with page references or URLs when necessary.
If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and assistance under the section 16 obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine the request.
I understand that you are required to respond to my request within 20 working days after receiving this request. I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing you have received this request.
I look forward to hearing from you soon,
Yours faithfully,
Dr Alastair Scott-McKinley
Thank you for your email.
We acknowledge receipt of your request.
You will be aware of the significant pressures on our health and social
care services. During this time there is a need for our staff to
prioritise their professional caring duties and to support front line
health and social care services. This has understandably had an impact on
other duties within their role such as responding to legislative
requirements under FOI and the processing of Subject Access Requests.
We assure you that your request will be logged and processed, and we will
do our utmost to respond as quickly as possible.
Yours faithfully
Information Governance Team The information contained in this email and
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Dear Mr Scott-McKinley
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 – INFORMATION REQUEST
I acknowledge your request which was received on 9th of February requesting information held by the Trust. The reference number for your email is FOI/2212.
Your request is currently being addressed and if approved we will aim to provide you with the information requested within the statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Please note that Freedom of Information requests require input from senior staff and health care professionals, and unfortunately, due to the significant pressures on the health and social care system at present, the Trust is facing challenges in meeting the deadline for responding to some requests.
Please be assured that your request for information is important to us and we will continue to liaise with relevant service areas and endeavour to respond to your request within the 20 day deadline if possible.
If the deadline for response has passed, and you have not received further correspondence from us, please do not hesitate to contact us if you wish to receive and update on your progress of your request and we will be happy to assist.
For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions which may prevent release of the information you have requested. If any of the exemption categories apply then the information will not be released. You will be informed if this is the case, including your right of appeal.
If the information you request contains reference to a third party then they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken on whether or not to release the information to you. You will also be informed if this is the case.
There may be a fee payable for the information you have requested. In this event the fee must be paid before the information is processed and the 20 working day time limit for responses will be suspended until receipt of the payment. I will write to you again to advise whether or not a fee is payable.
If you have any queries or concerns then please contact Dr Catherine Weaver at:
Head of Information Governance
Southern Health & Social Care Trust
Email: [email address]
Yours sincerely
Information Governance Department
Dear Mr Scott-McKinley,
Please find attached response in respect of your recent FOI request to the Southern Health and Social Care Trust.
Kind regards
Gail Fegan
Information Governance Officer
Good afternoon Gail Fegan
Please can you provide some clarification concerning your response.
The response appears incomplete with questions, 3, 4 and 5 being bank.
I would be grateful if you could clarify.
Many thanks
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Alastair Scott-McKinley
Dear Mr Scott-McKinley,
Thank you for your email and apologies if the response was not clear.
For questions 2, 3, 4 & 5 please refer these to the Department of Health Strategic Planning and Performance Group (SPPG), who commission the Fostering Network.
Contact details below:
FOI Unit
DoH
Annexe 3
Castle Buildings
Stormont
Belfast BT4 3SQ
Email: [email address]
Kind regards
Gail Fegan
Information Governance Officer
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