This document is to ensure that staff and patients at Solent View Medical Practice are aware of the ways in which the practice adheres to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (referred to as the Act herein). The Act enables the public to access information held by public authorities in two ways:
- Public authorities are obliged to publish certain information about their activities
- Members of the public are entitled to request information from public authorities who, in turn, are required to provide the requested information within 20 working days, unless it is exempted
The policy provides a framework within which the practice ensures compliance with the requirements of the Act and will underpin any operational procedures and activities connected with the implementation of the Act. It is important to note that the Act does not give individuals access to their own personal data, i.e., healthcare records. This is processed by means of a subject access request.
The principles behind the Act are detailed within the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) guidance titled What is the FOI Act and are we covered?
The roles and responsibilities of those involved in the management of Freedom of Information (FIO) are:
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Named person
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Responsibilities
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Information Governance Lead/Caldicott Guardian
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The IG Lead is often named as being the Caldicott Guardian.
This person has ultimate responsibility for the organisation’s compliance with the Act and is responsible for providing advice and support to all staff.
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Practice Manager
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The Practice Manager is also the Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO).
In their role as SIRO, they are responsible for providing advice and guidance to all staff and they are also the nominated person to carry out an internal review of a response to a FOI enquiry.
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Data Protection Officer
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The DPO provides expert advice with regard to the information request, the response and the appeal process, if appropriate.
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All staff
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All staff, including contractors, are responsible for ensuring that any requests for information that cannot be considered to be ‘business as usual’ and therefore fall under the Act are forwarded to the Practice Manager immediately.
Furthermore, all staff, including contractors, are responsible for responding to requests for information received from the Practice Manager in order to comply with the Act in a timely manner.
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In accordance with the Equality Act 2010, the practice has considered how provisions within this policy might impact on different groups and individuals. This document and any procedures contained within it are non-contractual, which means they may be modified or withdrawn at any time. They apply to all employees and contractors working for the practice.
The main principle behind the Act is that people have a right to know about the activities of public authorities, unless there is a good reason for them not to.
This means:
- Everybody has a right to access official information
- Applicants do not need to give a reason for wanting the information. On the contrary, organisations must justify refusing to provide the information
- All requests for information must be treated equally except under some circumstances relating to vexatious requests and personal data. Furthermore, all requesters are to be treated equally, whether they are journalists, local residents, public authority employees or foreign researchers
- As all requesters are treated equally, information under the Act should only be disclosed if it would be disclosed to anyone else who asked
Information can be shared voluntarily outside the provisions of the Act.
As detailed within Section 1 of the Act, any person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds information of the description specified in the request and, if that is the case, to have that information communicated to them.
The practice has a duty to provide advice and assistance to individuals making requests and will strive to take all reasonable steps to meet this obligation, as detailed at Section 16 of the Act.
Defining a Valid Request for Information
Any individual has the right to request information from a public authority and the practice has two separate duties when responding to such requests:
- Inform the applicant whether the organisation holds any information falling within the scope of their request
- To provide any information that conforms to Section 8 of the Act
A request also becomes valid when the Act is detailed in correspondence.
Processing any Requests
When an FOI request has been received, the process as detailed belowis to be followed to meet both the timescales and the obligations of the request.
| Timeline |
Considerations and Actions To Take |
| Day 1-2 |
Request logged and acknowledgement sent to applicant |
| Day 2-5 |
Provisional search for info - Held/not held - Will investigation exceed cost limit? |
| Day 6 |
If information is not held or exceeds cost limit – provide response to applicant |
| Day 6-10 |
If information is held, PIT meeting to consider whether information can be disclosed - Draft response |
| Day 10-15 |
Collate information for disclosure and provide final draft |
| Day 15-20 |
Response approved via PIT meeting attendees - Full response sent or permitted extension letter |
| Day 20 |
Information published on the organisation’s disclosure log - File all correspondence |
Furthermore, to ensure that the correct process is adhered to, on receipt of any FOI request the checklist below is to be followed.
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Case reference
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Date of receipt
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Name of applicant
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Target date
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Information requested:
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Checklist
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Establishing if the request is valid
The first step in dealing with an FOI request is to establish whether or not the request fulfils the FOI request criteria:
- Requests for information do not need to mention the Act
- Anyone can make a request. There are no restrictions for example on the nationality or location of the applicant
- However, the request must be in writing (email or letter) and include the applicant’s name (pseudonyms can be refused) and postal address or an email address to which a response can be sent
- The request should describe the information required
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Cost Limit (Section 12 of the Act)
Will the cost of locating, retrieving and extracting the information exceed the appropriate limit?
The appropriate limit is £450.00 which represents the cost of one person determining whether the information is held within the organisation, locating, retrieving and extracting the information. The limit covers the time taken to find, sort, edit or redact material. You cannot include the time taken to consider whether an exemption applies or the PIT.
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Establishing if the information is held
A person may request any recorded information held by a public authority (or held by another on behalf of a public authority). Recorded information can be held in the form of documents, emails, notes, videos and audio tapes.
If the applicant requires you to create information that is not already held at the time of receipt of the request, you are not obliged to create the information.
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Is the information already available on the disclosure log?
If the information is already available, then the applicant should be directed to this information in the public domain.
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Is the information closely connected with the functions of another public authority?
If the organisation does not hold the information that has been requested but you believe another public authority holds it, you should consider the best way to help the requester.
In most cases, this will mean contacting the requester and supplying the contact details of the public authority in question, having confirmed beforehand that they do hold the information.
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Duty to provide advice and assistance
If the request is widely framed, you should consider whether:
It would be helpful to consult with the requester to try to narrow or refine the request but only if the cost limit is exceeded
How long it will it take to retrieve and extract the information requested
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Is it a vexatious or repeated request?
There is no need to comply with a request:
If it is vexatious, that is:
- It would impose a significant burden on the organisation
- It clearly does not have any serious purpose or value
- It is designed to cause disruption or annoyance
- It has the effect of harassing the organisation
- It can otherwise fairly be characterised as obsessive or manifestly unreasonable
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It is a repeated request, that is:
- Identical or substantially similar to a previous request from that person or persons you believe to be working together (unless a reasonable amount of time (roughly three months) has elapsed between them)
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If we disclose this information, do we need to consult the communications team?
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If we do hold this information, should it be released?
This depends on whether:
- Any of the information is personal information, in which case the information is exempt under Section 40 of the Act and fails to be considered under the Data Protection Act.
- Requests for environmental information should be considered in accordance with Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIRs)
- The information is now or soon to be publicly available in which case you have the discretion to refuse the request (Section 21 or 22 of the Act) but should either provide a link to the information or provide the applicant with details of where the information can be obtained
- Any of the other exemptions in the Act apply as per the exemption list. Further guidance on the exemptions can be found at ICO - FOI Exemptions
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Absolute Exemptions (AE)
If an absolute exemption applies, there is no obligation under the Act to consider the request for information further.
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Qualified Exemptions (QE)
Are subject to the public interest test. Qualified exemptions do not justify withholding information unless, following a proper assessment, the balance of the public interest is against disclosure. When applying a qualified exemption, the deadline may be extended to consider fully where the balance of public interest lies.
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Acknowledging an FOI request
An acknowledgement of any FOI request will be provided within two working days. Annex E provides an acknowledgement template letter.
A register to log any FOI requests can be found in the organisation’s Freedom of Information Request Register
Responding to an FOI request
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 Section 10 states that there is a duty to respond to any request within 20 working days of receipt.
Should a request be unclear, the Practice Manager will contact the applicant to request clarification. It should be noted that the 20-working day ‘clock’ does not start until a valid request is received and the clarification that is being sought has been received. If clarification is requested but not received within 20 working days, the request will be considered to have been withdrawn. Should the applicant re-submit their request after this point, it will be treated as a new FOI request.
Detailed information including exemptions from and actions for requesting clarification can be found in the ICO guidance titled Time limits for compliance under the freedom of Information Act (Section 10)
Exemptions and the Public Interest Test
The practice will not release information held to which any absolute or qualified exemptions detailed in Part II of the Act apply.
The ICO guidance titled The public interest test (PIT) applies if an exemption is qualified and the organisation must weigh the public interest in maintaining the exemption against the public interest in disclosure. As a result, the PIT may delay the response to the request for information
Charges and Fees
In general, the practice will not charge a fee for processing an FOI request and as detailed at Section 9 of the Act. However, should there be a request for large volumes of hard copy materials, a fee may be levied and in line with Regulation 3 of The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Vexatious or Repeated Requests
The practice is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the request is vexatious. When this organisation has previously complied with a request for information that was made by any person, it is not obliged to comply with a subsequent identical or subsequent similar request from that person unless a reasonable interval has elapsed between compliance with the previous request and the making of the current request.
This organisation will log all requests for information for monitoring purposes and will be able to identify repeated or vexatious requests.
Both the ICO guidance titled Dealing with vexatious requests and Section 14 of the Act detail this further.
Refusal of a Request
Should the practice refuse a request, the applicant will be advised of the reasons why within 20 working days. They will also be provided with information on how to make a complaint about the refusal.
When it is not possible to confirm that an exemption applies, this organisation will inform the applicant that the issue remains under consideration and will estimate the date at which a firm judgement will be made. This will be notified to the applicant by issue of an exemption pending notice.
The Practice Manager will keep a record of all notices issued to refuse requests for information and any information regarding the PIT process.
Disclosure Log
The disclosure log provides information that has been released via requests made to the practice for information under the Act. The disclosure log forms part of the publication scheme and can link to documents available on the scheme which in turn is published on the practice website.
The Practice Manager must ensure that information from multiple requests regarding the same subject is available via the disclosure log. If there has been a request made for information which is currently part of a public debate, for example the subject is within the media, this information must be published within the disclosure log.
The requests within the disclosure log must remain anonymous and therefore the requester’s details must not be made available. The only information provided on the disclosure log are the questions asked and the answers to these questions. The reference numbers will also be provided to provide a reference if a member of the public contacts the practice regarding the information contained within the disclosure log.
Appeals Process Internal
Should an applicant be dissatisfied with a response that the practice has provided, they are able to request an internal review. Any complaint about or challenge to the information given in a response to an FOI request should be treated as a request for an internal review.
Any request for an internal appeal should be made within 40 working days of an FOI response being sent. Any requests for an internal review made after this date are out of time and will not receive an internal review. All requests for an internal review will be responded to within 20 working days.
To ensure that all reviews are carried out independently, support in compiling the review responses will be provided by the organisation’s Data Protection Officer.
Detailed information can be sought from the Cabinet Office document titled Freedom of Information Code of Practice at Section 5.
Appeals Process External
Should an enquirer be dissatisfied with a response that they have received, under Section 50 of the Act they are entitled to request an external review by the ICO.
Should an appeal be accepted by the ICO, the practice is obliged to supply the complete audit trail of its response to the ICO including un-redacted copies of information that had been redacted.
The organisation should review the FOI response and consider the information as detailed within the ICO guidance titled FOI complaints and ICO enforcement powers
Transferring Requests for Information
There will be instances when the practice does not hold the information requested but believes that another public authority does. In these instances, the Practice Manager will advise the requestor that the practice does not hold the information, and which other public authority may have what they are looking for. When possible, the organisation will provide the contact details for the other public authority to the requestor.
Prior to any direct transfer of the FOI request to another public authority, consent must be given by the requestor due to the data protection considerations of handling personal details.
Public Sector Contracts
When entering into contracts, the practice must refuse to include contractual terms that attempt to restrict the disclosure of information held by the organisation and relating to the contract beyond the restrictions permitted by the Act.
With the inclusion of existing contracts, unless an exemption provided for under the Act is applicable in relation to any information, the organisation may be obliged to disclose that information in response to a request, regardless of the terms of any contract.
As detailed within the UK Parliament Freedom of Information Act – Practice Note for Committee Clerks, this organisation will reject non-disclosure clauses.
Consultation from Third Parties
The practice recognises that in some cases the disclosure of information may affect the legal rights of a third party, for example when information is subject to the common law duty of confidentiality. Unless an exemption provided for in the Act applies in relation to any information, the practice will be obliged to disclose that information in response to a request.
Detailed information can be found in the ICO guidance titled What should we do if the request involves information about other individuals?, in particular, the section titled Do we need to respond to the request?
The ICO expects the practice to adopt its Model publication scheme and commit to proactively publishing information, explaining what information will be published, the format it will be published in and whether a charge will be made for the information.
The term ‘data set’ is defined in section 11(5) of the Act, and the term ‘relevant copyright work’ is defined in section 19(8) of the Act. The template for Solent View Medical Practice’s publication scheme can be found at Annex A.
The publication scheme refers to seven classes or types of information:
- Who we are and what we do – doctors in the practice, contact details, opening hours and other staffing details
- What we spend and how we spend it (current and previous financial year) – total cost of contracted services, audit of NHS income
- What our priorities are and how we are doing (current and previous year) – plans for developing and providing NHS services
- How we make decisions (current and previous year) – records of decisions made in the organisation affecting the provision of NHS services
- Our policies and procedures (practices should state if a policy is ‘not held’ as well as listing any additional ones) – policies, protocols and procedures concerning the employment of staff, delivery of services, equality and diversity, health and safety, complaints, records management (retention and destruction), data protection, the handling of requests for information and the patients’ charter
- Lists and registers – it is unlikely that any organisation will have any publicly available register or list and the ICO has advised that ‘none held’ can be entered here
- The services we offer – current NHS services provided and any charges, information leaflets and out-of-hours arrangements
The ICO expects Solent View Medical Practice to make the above information available unless:
- The requested information is not held
- The information is exempt under one of the FOIA exemptions
- The information is readily and publicly available from an external website; such information may have been provided either by the GP or on their behalf. The GP must provide a direct link to that information
- The information is archived, out of date or otherwise inaccessible
- It would be impractical or resource-intensive to prepare the material for routine release
To ensure the validity of FOI requests, staff at Solent View Medical Practice must ensure that the request:
- Is in writing, either letter or email
- Includes the requester’s real name or is in the name of an organisation, or is by one person on behalf of another, i.e. a solicitor on behalf of their client
- Includes a correspondence address (email or postal)
- Describes the requested information
Staff should be mindful that almost anything in writing that asks for information can be deemed as a FOI request under the Act.
Requests pertaining to environmental information can be made verbally and should be responded to appropriately.
Information available from Solent View Medical Practice who provide medical services under contract to the NHS under the Freedom of Information Act model publication scheme.
Who We Are & What We Do
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Information to be published
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How the information can be obtained
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Cost
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| Organisational information, structures, locations and contacts |
Website |
Free |
| Doctors in the practice |
Website |
Free |
| Contact details for the organisation |
Website |
Free |
| Opening hours |
Website |
Free |
| Other staffing details |
Website |
Free |
| Meeting information – specifically with pharma companies and other medical suppliers |
On request |
£50 |
What We Spend & How We Spend It
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Information to be published
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How the information can be obtained
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Cost
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| Financial information relating to projected and actual income, expenditure, procurement, contracts and financial audit. This should be the current and previous financial year’s information |
On request |
TBA |
| Details on NHS funding received by the practice |
On request |
TBA |
| Details of expenditure items over £10,000 – published at least annually but at a quarterly or six monthly interval where practical |
On Request |
TBA |
| List and value of contracts awarded by the practice. This will only be details of contracts that are of sufficient size to have gone through a formal tendering process |
On Request |
TBA |
| Staff allowances and expenses that can be incurred or claimed, with totals paid to senior staff members (for the purpose of this document, ‘senior staff’ are defined as partners or equivalent level) with references to categories |
On Request |
TBA |
| Pay policy |
On Request |
TBA |
| Declaration of GPs’ NHS/HSC income |
On Website |
Free |
What Our Priorities Are & How We Are Doing
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Information to be published
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How the information can be obtained
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Cost
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| Strategies and plans, performance indicators, audits, inspections and reviews Current and previous year as a minimum |
On Request |
TBA |
| Plans for the development and provision of NHS services |
On Request |
TBA |
| Performance data, including performance against targets |
On Request |
TBA |
| Inspection reports by regulators: the CQC, HIW, RQIA and HSCB and any other regulators |
On Website |
Free |
How We Make Decisions
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Information to be published
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How the information can be obtained
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Cost
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| Decision-making processes and records of decisions Current and previous year as a minimum |
On Request |
TBA |
| Records of decisions made in the organisation affecting the provision of NHS services |
On Request |
TBA |
Our Policies & Procedures
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Information to be published
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How the information can be obtained
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Cost
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| Current written protocols, policies and procedures for delivering our services and responsibilities. |
On Request |
TBA |
| Policies and procedures about customer service |
On Request |
TBA |
| Internal instructions to staff and policies relating to the delivery of services |
On Request |
TBA |
| Policies and procedures about the recruitment and employment of staff |
On Request |
TBA |
| Equality and diversity policy |
On Request |
TBA |
| Health and safety policy |
On Request |
TBA |
| Complaints procedures (including those covering requests for information and operating the publication scheme) |
Website |
Free |
| Records management policies (records retention, destruction and archive) |
On Request |
TBA |
| Data protection policies |
On Request |
TBA |
| Policies and procedures for handling requests for information |
On Request |
TBA |
Lists & Registers
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Information to be published
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How the information can be obtained
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Cost
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| None Held |
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The Services We Offer
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Information to be published
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How the information can be obtained
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Cost
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| Information about the services we offer, including leaflets, guidance and newsletters produced for the public |
Website |
Free |
| The services provided under contract to the NHS |
On request |
TBA |
| Charges for any of these services |
On Request |
TBA |
| Information leaflets |
On Request |
TBA |
| Out-of-hours arrangements |
On Request |
TBA |