UK IPC Cell e mails
Dear Public Health England,
I would be grateful for copies of e mail correspondence with the Uk Infection Prevention Control Cell between Jan 1 2021 and Jan 21 2021. As this is a period of only 3 weeks and as this would be a simple automated procedure the cost limitation exclusion cannot reasonably be applied
Yours faithfully,
Matt Richards
OFFICIAL
Dear Matt Richards
We acknowledge receipt of your email and request for information, which will be treated as a request for information under statutory access legislation.
Please note that requests under the Freedom of Information Act and the Environmental Information Regulations (EIRs) will receive a response within 20 working days from the day following the date of receipt of your request.
If the request is for your personal data, your request has been handled as a data subject access request (SAR) under Article 15 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), then we will respond within one month of the receipt of the request.
Public Health England (PHE) is responsible for providing guidance and advice to government and front-line services for all aspects of public health. It is a designated Category 1 responder organisation under the Civil Contingency Act and this specifically includes the COVID-19 response, providing clinical expertise and wider public health advice and guidance across national and local government, the NHS and third sector. As such, you may experience delays when making statutory information access requests during the pandemic.
We will aim to address all requests promptly and within the required response timeframes. However when we are unable to meet the response timeframe we will keep requesters updated on a revised expected timescale for a response to their request. The Information Commissioner recognises this position in its recent guidance, see link: https://ico.org.uk/global/data-protectio...
Public Accountability Unit
Public Health England
[PHE request email]
Tel: 020 8327 6920
www.gov.uk/phe Follow us on Twitter @PHE uk
OFFICIAL
Dear Matt Richards,
Further to your Freedom of Information request dated 9 March 2021, Public Health England would like to apologise that we have not yet provided you with a response. We have been working on your request and can now confirm that we are able to supply you with the information you have specified.
Please could you confirm if you would still like to receive a response to this request.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Kind regards,
FOI Team
Public Accountability Unit
Public Health England
[PHE request email]
www.gov.uk/phe Follow us on Twitter @PHE_uk
Dear FOI,
yes I would like that information as previously requested with immediate effect
Yours sincerely,
Matt Richards
OFFICIAL
Dear Matt Richards,
Thank you for confirming that you would still like to receive a response to your request. We will endeavour to provide you with the requested information as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely,
FOI Team
Public Accountability Unit
Public Health England
[PHE request email]
www.gov.uk/phe Follow us on Twitter @PHE_uk
Dear FOI,
14 days have now passed since you informed me the requested information was now available , many months after my initial request.
Please provide with immediate effect
Yours sincerely,
Matt Richards
OFFICIAL
Dear Matt Richards,
Thank you for your email and continued patience whilst we process your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We apologise for the delay in providing our response. Due to the pandemic we are dealing with a high volume of requests at this time.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Thank you once again for your patience.
Kind Regards,
FOI Team
Public Accountability Unit
Public Health England
[PHE request email]
www.gov.uk/phe Follow us on Twitter @PHE uk
OFFICIAL
Dear Matt Richards,
Please find attached Public Health England's response to your request.
We apologise for the extended delay in providing a response.
Yours sincerely,
FOI Team
Public Accountability Unit
Public Health England
[PHE request email]
www.gov.uk/phe Follow us on Twitter @PHE uk
Dear Public Health England,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Public Health England's handling of my FOI request 'UK IPC Cell e mails'.
I do not accept your reasoning for your decision not to release the requested information
1. I will happily accept anonymised copies of emails where individual names are redacted .
2. The requested e mails are from a period prior to the issue of guidance on 21 January 2021 , 8 months ago . It is not believable that releasing them could have a material effect on future guidance .
These excuses are flimsy , do not stand up to scrutiny and appear to be no more than obfuscation .
I would remind the public body that over 1,000 health workers have died of Covid and it is most definitely in the public interest to be able to see evidence of how guidance for their protection was formulated .
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/u...
Yours faithfully,
Matt Richards
OFFICIAL
Dear Matt Richards,
We acknowledge receipt of your email, which will be treated as a request for an internal review, following your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Please note we aim to complete your internal review within 20 working days from the day following the date of receipt of your request. We will notify you if we anticipate the internal review taking longer than 20 working days.
FOI Team
Public Accountability Unit
Public Health England
[PHE request email]
www.gov.uk/phe Follow us on Twitter @PHE UK
Dear Matt Richards,
Thank you for your email and patience whilst we work on your request for
an internal review.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has taken responsibility for
requests previously addressed to Public Health England (PHE), and we
apologise for the delay in providing our response. Due to the pandemic we
are dealing with a high volume of requests at this time.
Yours sincerely,
Information Rights Team
UK Health Security Agency
[email address]
[1]www.gov.uk/ukhsa Follow us on Twitter @UKHSA
Dear Information Rights,
You have had 20 days to respond to my request , adding further delay to an original request made many months ago.
This is simply more obfuscation and avoidance in an attempt to prevent release of documents that should be in the public domain .
I will re refer this matter to the ICO
Yours sincerely,
Matt Richards
Dear Matt Richards,
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has taken responsibility for
requests previously addressed to Public Health England (PHE). Your request
was assessed based on the information held by PHE at the time your request
was received. Please find attached our response to your request for an
internal review.
Yours sincerely,
Information Rights Team
UK Health Security Agency
[email address]
[1]www.gov.uk/ukhsa Follow us on Twitter @UKHSA
Dear Matt Richards,
Further to your previous Freedom of Information request (ref:
09/03/ld/2995) and subsequent internal review (ref: 17/09/21/ld/1337),
UKHSA has prepared an updated response to this request. Please find the
first part of our updated response and relevant documents attached.
We are continuing to work on providing a response to the remainder of your
request, and aim to do so by no later than 7^th October 2022. Please
accept our apologies for the delay in responding. Thank you for your
patience as we continue to work on preparing a response.
Yours sincerely,
Information Rights Team
Parliamentary and Public Accountability Team
UK Health Security Agency
[1][email address]
[2]www.gov.uk/ukhsa Follow us on Twitter @UKHSA
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. Original URL: http://www.gov.uk/ukhsa. Click or tap if you trust this link.
https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
Dear Matt Richards,
Please find attached a further updated response to your request from
UKHSA. We apologise sincerely for the lengthy delay in providing you with
a response, and for any inconvenience caused by this.
For your ease of reference, we have also included a copy of our response
of 23 September 2022 attached to this email.
Due to the size of the files, this response will be sent to you in two
parts.
Yours sincerely,
Information Rights Team
Parliamentary and Public Accountability Team
UK Health Security Agency
[1][email address]
[2]www.gov.uk/ukhsa Follow us on Twitter @UKHSA
From: Information Rights <[email address]>
Sent: 23 September 2022 17:44
To: [FOI #734587 email]
Cc: Information Rights <[email address]>
Subject: FOI case ref: 547 - Updated response to 2995
Dear Matt Richards,
Further to your previous Freedom of Information request (ref:
09/03/ld/2995) and subsequent internal review (ref: 17/09/21/ld/1337),
UKHSA has prepared an updated response to this request. Please find the
first part of our updated response and relevant documents attached.
We are continuing to work on providing a response to the remainder of your
request, and aim to do so by no later than 7^th October 2022. Please
accept our apologies for the delay in responding. Thank you for your
patience as we continue to work on preparing a response.
Yours sincerely,
Information Rights Team
Parliamentary and Public Accountability Team
UK Health Security Agency
[3][email address]
[4]www.gov.uk/ukhsa Follow us on Twitter @UKHSA
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. Original URL: http://www.gov.uk/ukhsa. Click or tap if you trust this link.
https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. Original URL: http://www.gov.uk/ukhsa. Click or tap if you trust this link.
https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
Dear Matt Richards,
Please find attached the second part of the UK Health Security Agency's
further updated response to your request.
Yours sincerely,
Information Rights Team
Parliamentary and Public Accountability Team
UK Health Security Agency
[1][email address]
[2]www.gov.uk/ukhsa Follow us on Twitter @UKHSA
From: Information Rights
Sent: 07 October 2022 19:12
To: '[FOI #734587 email]'
<[FOI #734587 email]>
Cc: 'Information Rights' <[email address]>
Subject: FOI case ref: 547 - Further updated response to 2995
Dear Matt Richards,
Please find attached a further updated response to your request from
UKHSA. We apologise sincerely for the lengthy delay in providing you with
a response, and for any inconvenience caused by this.
For your ease of reference, we have also included a copy of our response
of 23 September 2022 attached to this email.
Due to the size of the files, this response will be sent to you in two
parts.
Yours sincerely,
Information Rights Team
Parliamentary and Public Accountability Team
UK Health Security Agency
[3][email address]
[4]www.gov.uk/ukhsa Follow us on Twitter @UKHSA
From: Information Rights <[5][email address]>
Sent: 23 September 2022 17:44
To: [6][FOI #734587 email]
Cc: Information Rights <[7][email address]>
Subject: FOI case ref: 547 - Updated response to 2995
Dear Matt Richards,
Further to your previous Freedom of Information request (ref:
09/03/ld/2995) and subsequent internal review (ref: 17/09/21/ld/1337),
UKHSA has prepared an updated response to this request. Please find the
first part of our updated response and relevant documents attached.
We are continuing to work on providing a response to the remainder of your
request, and aim to do so by no later than 7^th October 2022. Please
accept our apologies for the delay in responding. Thank you for your
patience as we continue to work on preparing a response.
Yours sincerely,
Information Rights Team
Parliamentary and Public Accountability Team
UK Health Security Agency
[8][email address]
[9]www.gov.uk/ukhsa Follow us on Twitter @UKHSA
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. Original URL: http://www.gov.uk/ukhsa. Click or tap if you trust this link.
https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. Original URL: http://www.gov.uk/ukhsa. Click or tap if you trust this link.
https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
5. mailto:[email address]
6. mailto:[FOI #734587 email]
7. mailto:[email address]
8. mailto:[email address]
9. Original URL: http://www.gov.uk/ukhsa. Click or tap if you trust this link.
https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
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