Claims of no PPE shortage

Department of Health and Social Care did not have the information requested.

Dear Department of Health and Social Care,

Background: In April 2020 it was widely reported that some NHS nurses had to wear bin bags due to a lack of PPE and some of them caught Covid-19
(Public ref) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/healt...

Also in April 2020 the chief coroner for England and Wales, Mark Lucraft QC, asked coroners not to look at PPE shortages when considering the deaths of NHS staff.
(Public ref:) https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020...

FoI request: If it exists, please kindly supply the evidence held by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to support his claim on 23rd February 2021 that there was no PPE shortage.
(Public ref) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/f...

Yours faithfully,

Amanda Hart
for Stop UK lies and Corruption.

Dear Department of Health and Social Care,

On 23rd February 2021 we submitted a Freedom of Information request that you failed to acknowledge. Therefore, to be certain of receipt we shall repeat it below:

Background: In April 2020 it was widely reported that some NHS nurses had to wear bin bags due to a lack of PPE and some of them caught Covid-19
(Public ref) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/healt...

Also in April 2020 the chief coroner for England and Wales, Mark Lucraft QC, asked coroners not to look at PPE shortages when considering the deaths of NHS staff.
(Public ref:) https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020...

FoI request: If it exists, please kindly supply the evidence held by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to support his claim on 23rd February 2021 that there was no PPE shortage.
(Public ref) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/f...

Yours faithfully,

Amanda Hart
for Stop UK lies and Corruption.

FreedomofInformation, Department of Health and Social Care

Dear Ms Hart

I can confirm that we received your request dated 23 February, and I apologise that we did not send you our automated acknowledgement of receipt, which was due to a technical error. The reference for your request is FOI 1308888.

Yours sincerely
Dorothy Crowe
FOI Team

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Dear Department of Health and Social Care,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department of Health and Social Care's handling of my FOI request 'Claims of no PPE shortage'. Ref FOI 1308888.

We submitted this request 30 working days ago and you've not provided a response as recognised by the Freedom of Information Act except for an acknowledgement and reference code.

We understand there may be a delay in providing this information but as there have been no changes to the time limits at which we can request an internal review it must therefore be entered today.

You have breached Section 10 of the FoIA.
Section 10 of the Act sets out the time frames within which a public authority must respond to an FOIA request.

* It applies whenever the public authority has:
- a duty under section 1(1)(a) confirm or deny whether the information is held;
- a duty under section 1(1)(b) to provide information that is held to the requester;
- a duty under section 17 to issue a refusal notice explaining why a request has been refused.
* Authorities must respond to requests promptly, and by the twentieth working day following the date of receipt of the request.
* A working day is any day other than a Saturday, Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday or a day which is a bank holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 in any part of the United Kingdom.
* Where required, an authority may claim a reasonable extension of time to consider the public interest test. An extension beyond an additional 20 working days should be exceptional.

You are also reminded it is the Information Commissioner who recommends internal reviews are requested when authorities fail to comply with the Freedom of Information Act. They state it is your chance to report on what went wrong and they see it as your opportunity to set things right.

You are under no legal obligation to complete an internal review, but it is considered 'good practice' to do so as it will help you to avoid further breaches. Should you inform us that you are not completing one, or claim there "is nothing to review", there is no further legal requirement for us to wait any longer. Be advised we would then pass the matter directly to the Information Commissioner.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

Yours faithfully,

Amanda Hart
for Stop UK lies and Corruption.

FreedomofInformation, Department of Health and Social Care

Dear Ms Hart,

Thank you for your email. I apologise for the length of time it is taking to respond to your FOI request.

As you are aware, DHSC does not conduct internal reviews until a response to the initial case has been issued. Although organisations can choose to conduct an internal review to assess the handling process where they have taken more than 20 working days to respond, DHSC uses the internal review process once the initial case is complete to ensure that any exemptions that have been used have been applied correctly, and that all information within the scope of the request was considered.

We will therefore not be conducting an internal review. We will respond to your FOI request as soon as we are able.

Yours sincerely,

FOI Team
Department of Health and Social Care

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Dear FreedomofInformation,

Re: FOI 1308888
Thanks for your response dated 12th April 2021.

The criteria has now been met for us to report the Section 10 breach to the Information Commissioner.

Yours sincerely,

Amanda Hart
for Stop UK lies and Corruption.

Amanda Hart left an annotation ()

12th April 2021. Reported to ICO.

Amanda Hart left an annotation ()

IC-99789-W0C9. ICO asked department to respond within 10 working days. Agreed to contact ICO if no response by 25th May.

Department of Health and Social Care

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Hart,

Please find attached the Department of Health and Social Care's response
to your recent FOI request (our ref: FOI-1308888 ).
 

Please accept our apology for the late arrival of this response.

Yours sincerely, 

Ed Franklyn
Freedom of Information Team
Department of Health and Social Care

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