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Standards. You are welcome to contact us in Welsh and we will respond in
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In the meantime, if you want any further information about the GMC, please
visit our website: [1]Home - GMC (gmc-uk.org)

General Medical Council

We work with doctors, patients, and other stakeholders to support good,
safe patient care across the UK. We set the standards doctors and those
who train them need to meet, and help them achieve them. If there are
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References

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Dear Susan Sollazzi,

Your information request – IR1-4600579539

Thank you for your request for information received 20^th September 2024.

How we will consider your request

We are going to consider your request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 (FOIA). The FOIA gives us 20 working days to respond, but we’ll come
back to you as soon as we can.

Your request will be allocated to a member of the team. If you have any
queries please email [1][GMC request email].

Yours Sincerely,

Information Access Team

General Medical Council

3 Hardman Street

Manchester

From: Susan Sollazzi <[FOI #1177330 email]>
Sent: Friday, September 20, 2024 8:40 AM
To: FOI <[email address]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Use of Department of Health and
Social Care funds

Dear General Medical Council, Please provide the funding agreement between
the GMC and the DHSC that specifies the purpose of funding in respect of
PA and AA regulation, or advise where it is available to be viewed. Thank
you. Yours faithfully,

Dear General Medical Council,

Please provide the funding agreement between the GMC and the DHSC that specifies the purpose of funding in respect of PA and AA regulation, or advise where it is available to be viewed.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Susan Sollazzi

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[2][FOI #1177330 email]

Is [3][GMC request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests to General Medical Council? If so, please contact us using this form:

[4]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[5]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the latest advice from the ICO:

[6]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

[7]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

show quoted sections

Dear Susan Sollazzi,

Your information requests - IR1-4592468771 and IR1-4600579539

Thank you for your emails dated 11 September and 20 September 2024. I have
considered your requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

I have looked at your two separate requests made on the above dates but
have combined my response as follows.

I am unable to provide you with the information you have requested. This
is because of the amount of data you’ve asked for and the work that would
be involved. Under FOIA there’s an exemption for requests where it would
cost the public authority more than £450 to process - equivalent to 18
hours. This is based on an hourly rate of £25 per hour, which is set by
the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
This amount is called the ‘appropriate limit.’ To estimate the cost, we
can take into account determining, locating, retrieving and extracting the
information requested.

Amalgamation of requests

When a public authority estimates whether the appropriate limit is likely
to be exceeded, the [1]Freedom of Information and Data Protection
(Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 states that it can include
the costs of complying with two or more requests so long as the requests:

• Relate, to any extent, to the same or similar information, and

• Are received within any period of 60 consecutive working days.

I am including your requests made on 22 July, 5 August, 23 August, 11
September and 20 September 2024 when determining if the ‘appropriate
limit’ is exceeded which relate to information about the regulation of
Physician Associates and/or Anaesthesia Associates. These requests have
been made within a period of 60 consecutive working days.

The exemption

Under the FOIA, the specific exemption which we believe applies is at
section 12. This states that we are not required to comply with a request
if we estimate that the cost of doing so would exceed the appropriate
limit.

In my email of 30 August 2024, I explained that we are not required to
comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of doing so would
exceed the appropriate limit. I also provided a breakdown of how your
amalgamated requests exceeded the cost limit. This was based on 6,003
applications for voluntary erasure since January 2023 and taking 8 minutes
to review each application. Based on an hourly rate of £25 per hour (which
is set by the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit)
Regulations 2004) this would cost us significantly in excess of the
‘appropriate limit’ to process.

I believe that these two requests are also subject to the same exemption
under s.12 FOIA applies when considering your requests collectively in
accordance with the amalgamation rules set out above.

Advice and assistance

You can narrow the scope of any of your previous requests by focusing on
one question or choosing to focus on one of your previous requests.
However, I should add that the s.12 exemption under the FOIA (or another
exemption) may still be applicable to any requests you raise in the
future.

Your right to appeal

If you would like to appeal this decision please set out your reasons in
writing to [2][GMC request email]. Please note that we will only usually
consider appeals received within 40 working days of our response. You can
also appeal to the [3]Information Commissioner, the regulator of the FOIA
and DPA.

Kind regards

Henna Janghir

Information Access Officer

General Medical Council

3 Hardman Street

Manchester

M3 3AW

Email: [4][email address]

Tel: 0161 923 6710

Website: [5]www.gmc-uk.org

From: FOI
Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2024 5:25 PM
To: Susan Sollazzi <[FOI #1177330 email]>
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - Use of Department of Health
and Social Care funds

Dear Susan Sollazzi,

Your information request – IR1-4600579539

Thank you for your request for information received 20^th September 2024.

How we will consider your request

We are going to consider your request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 (FOIA). The FOIA gives us 20 working days to respond, but we’ll come
back to you as soon as we can.

Your request will be allocated to a member of the team. If you have any
queries please email [6][GMC request email].

Yours Sincerely,

Information Access Team

General Medical Council

3 Hardman Street

Manchester

From: Susan Sollazzi <[7][FOI #1177330 email]>
Sent: Friday, September 20, 2024 8:40 AM
To: FOI <[8][email address]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Use of Department of Health and
Social Care funds

Dear General Medical Council, Please provide the funding agreement between
the GMC and the DHSC that specifies the purpose of funding in respect of
PA and AA regulation, or advise where it is available to be viewed. Thank
you. Yours faithfully,

Dear General Medical Council,

Please provide the funding agreement between the GMC and the DHSC that specifies the purpose of funding in respect of PA and AA regulation, or advise where it is available to be viewed.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Susan Sollazzi

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[9][FOI #1177330 email]

Is [10][GMC request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information requests to General Medical Council? If so, please contact us using this form:

[11]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[12]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the latest advice from the ICO:

[13]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

[14]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

show quoted sections