Timeliness of handling of FOI requests

The request was refused by NHS England.

Dear NHS England,

Please can you provide any information held by NHS England regarding:
- the proportion of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests received by NHS England to which a final substantive response was sent within the statutory period of 20 working days
- the delays in providing final substantive responses to other FOI requests (in particular the proportion receiving that response 21-40, 41-60, 61-80 and 81+ working days after the request was received)
- the proportion of FOI internal review requests received by NHS England to which a final substantive response was sent within 20 working days
- the delays in providing final substantive responses to other internal review requests (in particular the proportion receiving that response 21-40, 41-60, 61-80 and 81+ working days after the request was received).

By 'final substantive response' I mean:
- in relation to FOI requests, the response in which NHS England provides the information requested, or its reasons for withholding some or all of the information, and informs the requestor of their right to request an internal review
- in relation to internal review requests, the response in which NHS England provides the information requested, or its reasons for upholding the previous decision to withhold some or all of the information, and informs the requestor of their right to complain to the Information Commissioner.

Please provide the above information broken down by financial year (including the current financial year to date).

Yours faithfully,

Paul Jones

FOI England (NHS ENGLAND), NHS England

Dear Mr Jones,

 

Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FOI) request, dated 6 August
2015.

 

Please be assured that your request is being dealt with under the terms of
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and will be answered within twenty
working days.

 

If you have any queries about this request or wish to contact us again,
please email [1][NHS England request email] and the message will be
forwarded appropriately. Please remember to quote the above reference
number in any future communications.

 

Please do not reply to this email. This message has been sent from a
central mailbox. To communicate with NHS England regarding Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests, enquiries or complaints we ask these are sent
directly to NHS England’s customer contact centre. This is to ensure all
communications are progressed correctly. Their postal address, telephone
number and email details are as follows:- PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT;
0300 3 11 22 33, [2][NHS England request email].

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Freedom of Information

Corporate Communications Team

Patients and Information Directorate

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Tel: 0300 311 22 33

Email: [3][NHS England request email]

 

‘High quality care for all, now and for future generations’

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[NHS England request email]
2. mailto:[NHS England request email]
3. mailto:[NHS England request email]

FOI England (NHS ENGLAND), NHS England

Dear Mr Twyman,

 

Re:      Freedom of Information request (Our Ref: FOI-007992)

 

Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FOI) request dated 15 July
2015.

 

Your exact request was:-

 

‘I wish to have information on the terms of reference of the SECSG, its
current detailed business plan, including details of its resources
(financial, staffing, premises), and the management information systems
for which it is responsible.’

 

We have interpreted this as a request for information about South East
Commissioning Support Unit (SECSU) as the title of the request refers to
this.

 

NHS England holds some of this information.

 

With regards to the terms of reference of the SE CSU service catalogue can
be found using the below links:

 

[1]http://www.southeastcsu.nhs.uk/Pages/our...  

[2]http://www.southeastcsu.nhs.uk/Files/ser...   

 

In terms of the Business Plan, including details of resources and
interrelated information such as financial, staffing, premises and
information systems,  it is considered that this information is exempt
under section 43(2) of the FOI Act (FOIA), which exempts from the general
duty to release information which would, or would be likely to, prejudice
the commercial interests of any entity, including the public authority
holding the information.

 

We consider that this information is commercially sensitive and as such
the disclosure will put the organisation at a disadvantage in a commercial
situation.

Section 43 is a qualified exemption and, as such, we are required to
assess the public interest in withholding this information against that of
its release. In applying this exemption, consideration has been given to
the public interest in either releasing or withholding the information.

 

NHS England recognises that there is generally a legitimate public
interest in releasing information. However, we also take into account the
fact that this information is commercially sensitive. South East CSU
operates in an extremely competitive business environment. Disclosure of
detailed information regarding Business Plans which includes details of
resources and interrelated information such as financial, staffing and
premises is likely to harm the commercial interests of the organisation.
This information could be used by competitors to gain a significant unfair
advantage when services are put out to re-tender or competing on new
tenders.

 

Therefore, we consider that releasing this information would not be in the
public interest, as it would have a negative impact upon the commercial
activity of the CSU and that the need for the CSU to obtain the best value
for public funds is not outweighed by the public interest in this
information being made available.

 

I hope this information is helpful. However, if you are dissatisfied, you
have the right to ask for an internal review by writing to us, within two
months of the date of this letter, to:

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Email: [3][NHS England request email]  

 

Please quote the reference number FOI-007992 in any future communications.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) can be contacted at:

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Email: [4][email address]    

Website: [5]www.ico.gov.uk

 

Please note there is no charge for making an appeal.

 

Please be aware that in line with the Information Commissioner’s directive
on the disclosure of information under the FOI Act, your request will be
anonymised and published on our website as part of our disclosure log.

 

Please do not reply to this email. This message has been sent from a
central mailbox. To communicate with NHS England regarding Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests, enquiries or complaints we ask these are sent
directly to NHS England’s customer contact centre. This is to ensure all
communications are progressed correctly. Their postal address, telephone
number and email details are as follows:- PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT;
0300 3 11 22 33, [NHS England request email].

   

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Freedom of Information

Corporate Communications Team

Patients and Information Directorate

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Tel: 0300 311 22 33

Email: [NHS England request email]

 

 

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. http://www.southeastcsu.nhs.uk/Pages/our...
2. http://www.southeastcsu.nhs.uk/Files/ser...
3. mailto:[NHS England request email]
4. mailto:[email address]
5. http://www.ico.gov.uk/

Dear NHS England,

You appear to have sent me an FOI response intended for someone else (a Mr Twyman) - see https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/t... (your ref FOI-007992).

Yours faithfully,

Paul Jones

FOI England (NHS ENGLAND), NHS England

Dear Mr Jones,

 

Re:      Freedom of Information request (Our Ref: FOI- 008105)

 

Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FOI) request dated 6 August
2015.

 

Your exact request was:-

 

‘Please can you provide any information held by NHS England regarding:

- the proportion of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests received by NHS
England to which a final substantive response was sent within the
statutory period of 20 working days

- the delays in providing final substantive responses to other FOI
requests (in particular the proportion receiving that response 21-40,
41-60, 61-80 and 81+ working days after the request was received)

- the proportion of FOI internal review requests received by NHS England
to which a final substantive response was sent within 20 working days

- the delays in providing final substantive responses to other internal
review requests (in particular the proportion receiving that response
21-40, 41-60, 61-80 and 81+ working days after the request was received).

 

By 'final substantive response' I mean:

- in relation to FOI requests, the response in which NHS England provides
the information requested, or its reasons for withholding some or all of
the information, and informs the requestor of their right to request an
internal review

- in relation to internal review requests, the response  in which NHS
England provides the information requested, or its reasons for upholding
the previous decision to withhold some or all of the information, and
informs the requestor of their right to complain to the Information
Commissioner.

 

Please provide the above information broken down by financial year
(including the current financial year to date).

 

NHS England holds this information. However, this information is being
with-held under Section 12(1).

 

We have interpreted your request as seeking information relating to the
reasons for delays and the figures for cases breached across a range of
days i.e. 21-40, 41-60 etc. In assessing the information you have
requested as it is currently framed, would exceed the cost limit as set
out in section 12(1) of the FOI Act. Section 12(1) states that a public
authority can refuse a request if complying with it would exceed the
appropriate limit of £450 (which represents 18 hours).  This represents
the estimated cost of one person spending this time in determining whether
the information is held, and locating, retrieving and extracting the
information. I have outlined reasoning for invoking section 12(1) below.

 

Some of the information that you have requested is not held in the format
that you require as we do not record the reasons for each breach and the
amount of time by which the case has breached. To locate and retrieve the
information you have requested would require NHS England to access a
number of computer files relating to breached cases and internal review
requests since 1 April 2013, when NHS England came into existence to the
date of your request. This is roughly a period of 27 months. Within this
period, NHS England has implemented an upgraded database system for
recording FOI requests. However, a substantial number of the FOI requests
that we would need to access and assess in order to fulfil your request
predate the full implementation of this database.

 

We have estimated under section 12(1) of the FOI Act that to locate,
retrieve, extract and collate the information requested may take up to and
over 53 hours to complete. As a result, this takes over the time and cost
threshold in considering an FOI request and any appropriate action to be
taken.

 

Section 12(1) is an absolute exemption therefore we are not required to
assess the public interest test in its application.

 

However, if you were to refine your request for information within more
specific margins, for example, requests (both FOI and internal review)
breached over the last three months, then we may be able to continue
processing your request. Please note we cannot guarantee that section
12(1) or any other exemptions will not apply to any information requested.

 

I hope this information is helpful. However, if you are dissatisfied, you
have the right to ask for an internal review by writing to us, within two
months of the date of this letter, to:

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Email: [1][NHS England request email]

 

Please quote the reference number FOI-008105 in any future communications.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) can be contacted at:

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Email: [2][email address]    

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

 

Please note there is no charge for making an appeal.

 

Please be aware that in line with the Information Commissioner’s directive
on the disclosure of information under the FOI Act, your request will be
anonymised and published on our website as part of our disclosure log.

 

Please do not reply to this email. This message has been sent from a
central mailbox. To communicate with NHS England regarding Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests, enquiries or complaints we ask these are sent
directly to NHS England’s customer contact centre. This is to ensure all
communications are progressed correctly. Their postal address, telephone
number and email details are as follows:- PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT;
0300 3 11 22 33, [NHS England request email].

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

Freedom of Information

Corporate Communications Team

Patients and Information Directorate

 

NHS England

PO Box 16738

REDDITCH

B97 9PT

 

Tel: 0300 311 22 33

Email: [NHS England request email]

 

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[NHS England request email]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.ico.gov.uk/