Use of Direct Engagement Schemes involving third parties

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dr Colin Iain Campbell MBChB FRSPH

Dear Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust,

I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I would be interested in any information held by your organisation regarding my request. I understand that I do not have to specify particular files or documents and it is the departments responsibility to provide the information I require. If you need further clarification please contact me via this website (or email). I would like to request the following information:

1. Has your organisation used a Direct Engagement scheme?
2. If so, who provides/provided it? And when did you start using it? (please answer over all periods and include any agreements not yet started within the scope stating that it has not yet started).
3. Did you take external legal advice from a regulated legal professional before entering into it and, if so, from whom did you take external legal advice? (by external we mean a third party not including the scheme operator themselves).
4. What has your total locum/temporary staffing spend since you started using the most recent scheme? (if one has not yet started please answer for the previous one and explain that use of the new one has not commenced yet)
5. Please disclose the adverts, sales literature, procurement discussion, and emails between the individual that handled the procurement form the trusts end with the framework and scheme operator relating to the procurement.
6. As a result of the use of this scheme is VAT paid on the fee paid to locums you engage?
7. When conducting IR35 assessments, do you claim locums are subject to the trusts Supervision Direction & Control? If you have outsourced this function did you claim this before doing so?
8. How much has been paid to the third party direct engagement facilitator thus far?
9. Was this payment calculated as a percentage of the total engagement fee for engagements going through the facilitator? If so, what percentage is this?
10. How many locums have you engaged outside of IR35 in the last year? (this will be available through the trust reporting mechanisms to NHS Improvement and frameworks will also keep track of this).
11. Was the procurement of the Direct Engagement provider handled in house or by a framework, if so which framework handled this? (Eg via HTE/TWS Lot 5)
12. Please describe on-boarding arrangements in detail. Is use of the scheme optional or are you demanding that people work through the scheme.

If you are considering citing a qualified Section 43(2) exemption to avoid answering any questions please note that this is subject to a public interest test and, if necessary, a prejudice test and that you are required to disclose your reasoning with respect to decisions not to disclose. Please consider the public interest representation below in relation to fiduciary duty and openness of your books regardless of which provider you use. If you use a direct engagement scheme which purports, or purported, to provide you with a 'medical' or 'healthcare' service in order to achieve a VAT exemption, as we suspect you are likely to from sources who have previously worked with you please consider the other parts of the public interest representation.

PUBLIC INTEREST REPRESENTATION:

*You have fiduciary responsibility to account for public funds. This is a vital safeguard against bribery and corruption which, for clarity, we are not specifically alleging has occurred here. That said failure to disclose such information could give rise to questions regarding what is different at this trust from the numerous others who have disclosed this information.
* In addition to the general fiduciary argument which applies across the public sector you are also subject to the Audit Commission Act 1998 and thus you should not be concealing your books from members of the public. Section 43(2) exemptions are unlikely to apply in such contexts.

*Where the scheme in question purports to function by supply of healthcare services/medical services. However they are not registered with the CQC:

As per our understanding, it may be a criminal offence to provide Healthcare/Medical services, as they are set out under Schedule 1 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, if not CQC regulated and, as such, the public interest in disclosure is overwhelming if the NHS trust is contracting with a medical service provider which is not CQC registered (such providers purporting to supply 'healthcare' supply you with locum health workers through an umbrella which apparently claims to 'wholly employ' thousands of health workers).

You can confirm lack of CQC registration on the CQC's website: www.cqc.org.uk - select 'all services'

Once you have verified the provider is unregulated, if you are still unsure on the public interest front could you please call the CQC and verify if they need registration due to the nature of their supply or if they do not need registration as they are supplying workers as an agency might.

You can call the CQC on this number to do so: 03000616161 (also available on their website under 'contact us')

Once this public interest basis for review has been confirmed at your side you are free to consider whether to claim an exemption but please provide justification for your answer with reference to the above public interest representations should you choose not to disclose any information under a qualified exemption (this is a requirement of claiming such an exemption under the act). We are, however, confident that you will deem it inappropriate in context to censor this information.

I would like the information to be provided by email or on this website in electronic form. If my request is denied in whole or in part I ask that you justify all deletions by reference to specific exemptions of the act. I will also expect you to release all non-exempt material. I reserve the right to appeal your decision to withhold any information or to charge excessive fees. I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received this request. I look forward to your response within 20 working days as outlined by the statute. Many thanks for your assistance with this request.

Yours faithfully,
Dr Colin Iain Campbell MBChB FRSPH

Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust

 
Thank you for the request for information you have sent in under the
[1]Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We will endeavour to answer your request within the next 20 working
days.

Should your request fall under any of the exemptions of the [2]Freedom
of Information Act 2000, we will not be able to answer your request,
however, we will inform you as to why it has been deemed as exempt.

Regards,

The Information Governance Team
[3]Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust

References

Visible links
1. http://www.foi.nhs.uk/home.html
2. http://www.foi.nhs.uk/home.html
3. http://www.salisbury.nhs.uk/

Dr Colin Iain Campbell MBChB FRSPH

Dear Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust,

Just a gentle reminder that a response should occur promptly and within 20 working days. It is now 21 days since the request was sent and I would request that you disclose the information urgently.

At this juncture I will hold off on requesting an internal review on the grounds of failure to respond and failure to respond promptly and instead allow s couple more days' grace.

Yours faithfully,

Dr Colin Iain Campbell MBChB FRSPH

Freedom Of Information,

Dear Dr Campbell,

 

Thank you for getting in touch, please be advised that we are chasing a
response for you and will be in touch as soon as we have the required
information.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Freedom of Information Team

Information Governance

Tel: 01722 336262 ext 5861

show quoted sections

Freedom Of Information,

Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust
Salisbury District Hospital
Department of Information Technology
Salisbury
Wiltshire
SP2 8BJ

[1]www.salisbury.nhs.uk

20^th December 2018

Reference No: FOI_4722
Dear Dr Colin Campbell
Regarding your request for information that we received on the 19^th
November 2018. We hope this information is satisfactory and meets your
intended request requirements. Should this information not answer your
questions, please contact us using the email address at the bottom of this
email, or you can write to us using the address above.
 
Question No. 1
Has your organisation used a Direct Engagement scheme?
 
Answer No. 1
Yes
 
 
Question No. 2
If so, who provides/provided it? And when did you start using it? (please
answer over all periods and include any agreements not yet started within
the scope stating that it has not yet started).
 
Answer No. 2
Brookson Medical Services
 
 
Question No. 3
Did you take external legal advice from a regulated legal professional
before entering into it and, if so, from whom did you take external legal
advice? (by external we mean a third party not including the scheme operator
themselves).
 
Answer No. 3
No external legal advice taken.
 
 
Question No. 4
What has your total locum/temporary staffing spend since you started using
the most recent scheme? (if one has not yet started please answer for the
previous one and explain that use of the new one has not commenced yet)
 
Answer No. 4
Total spend on the current scheme £647k.
 
 
Question No. 5
Please disclose the adverts, sales literature, procurement discussion, and
emails between the individual that handled the procurement form the trusts
end with the framework and scheme operator relating to the procurement.
 
Answer No. 5
The individual who handled the Procurement was an Interim Procurement
Manager who is no longer with this Trust. Therefore the Trust would require
specific criteria as to what is required from this question to access,
identify and share any relevant information from the correspondence that
will have been generated by the individual.
 
 
Question No. 6
As a result of the use of this scheme is VAT paid on the fee paid to locums
you engage?
 
Answer No. 6
No - Vat is only paid on the agent's fees and commission
 
 
Question No. 7
When conducting IR35 assessments, do you claim locums are subject to the
trusts Supervision Direction & Control? If you have outsourced this function
did you claim this before doing so?
 
Answer No. 7
Yes
 
 
Question No. 8
How much has been paid to the third party direct engagement facilitator thus
far?
 
Answer No. 8
This information is commercially sensitive
 
 
Question No. 9
Was this payment calculated as a percentage of the total engagement fee for
engagements going through the facilitator? If so, what percentage is this?
 
Answer No. 9
This is commercially sensitive
 
 
Question No. 10
How many locums have you engaged outside of IR35 in the last year? (this
will be available through the trust reporting mechanisms to NHS Improvement
and frameworks will also keep track of this).
 
Answer No. 10
None
 
 
Question No. 11
Was the procurement of the Direct Engagement provider handled in house or by
a framework, if so which framework handled this? (Eg via HTE/TWS Lot 5) 12.
Please describe on-boarding arrangements in detail. Is use of the scheme
optional or are you demanding that people work through the scheme.
 
Answer No. 11
Procurement was handled in-house by an Interim Procurement Manager who
engaged with CCS/Digital Market place. Prior to contract and on-boarding,
market analysis in line with CCS G Cloud 9 to validate our decision to award
to Brookson was undertaken. The on-boarding period was delayed while notice
was served on our then incumbent. The on-boarding plan for this Call-Off
Contract was that we as the customer provide quarterly locum agency and
AHP's and HSS's agency spend data to the Supplier to enable the Supplier to
provide advice as to how to increase usage of the portal and address any off
framework spend. Trust Policy is that the applicable temporary workers
should go through the Direct Engagement Model.
 
 
Yours sincerely

Information Governance Team
If you have any questions regarding this response, please contact us at
[2][Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust request email]
Visit the Freedom of Information website at
[3]http://www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/free...
Please take a few minutes to complete our FOI survey at the following link
[4]https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ZKPJG8V
This will provide feedback to the FOI Team, so that we may provide you with
a better service. Your responses are anonymous and confidential. Thank you
for your input.

 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.salisbury.nhs.uk/
2. mailto:[Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust request email]
3. http://www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/free...
4. https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ZKPJG8V

Dr Colin Iain Campbell MBChB FRSPH

Dear Freedom Of Information,

To clarify question 5 as requested:

The emails/letters/correspondence between this individual and the direct engagement scheme will suffice. If they can be found any literature considered by the board/finance director in voting/deciding to engage a direct engagement scheme would also be useful.

Many thanks for your assistance.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Colin Iain Campbell MBChB FRSPH