NHS England Pharmacy Integration Fund (PhIF) FOI

Dear Mr Mosley,

Re:      Freedom of Information request (Our Ref: FOI-027538)

Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FOI) request dated 26 October 2016.

We would like to apologise for the length of time it has taken to provide you with a response to your FOI request. This has fallen short of our standards and we would like to offer our sincere apologies for the delay incurred.

Your exact request was:

“Please can I ask the following:

[1] Terms of reference for the "NHS England Pharmacy Integration Oversight Group"

[2] A list of appointees to the "NHS England Pharmacy Integration Oversight Group" and for their declarations of conflicts of interest.

[3] Please can I have meeting dates, agendas and minutes for any meeting of the "NHS England Pharmacy Integration Oversight Group"

NHS England holds some information relevant to your request.

We have provided information with regard to each point of your request below.

With regard to point 1 and the terms of reference – We are withholding this information under Section 22 of the FOI Act, which states that public bodies are not obliged to disclose information that is intended for future publication.

Section 22 is a qualified exemption, and we are required to assess as objectively as possible whether the balance of public interest favours disclosing or withholding the information.

NHS England recognises that there is in general a strong public interest in information being made as freely available as possible. However, releasing information intended for publication ahead of its planned publication date could lead to disruption of the communications plan and put duplicated or inaccurate information within the public domain. This would or is likely to be misleading to those viewing the information.

For these reasons, we believe withholding the information outweighs the public interest in releasing the information. Equally, as this information is to be published soon, we feel that it is best and reasonable to keep to this timeframe rather than disclose earlier where error or duplication may occur.

This information will be published in Spring 2017. On publication, this information will be freely available from the NHS England website at the following link:

·         https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/primary-care-comm/pharmacy/

With regard to point 2 and the list of appointees – Please find this information contained within the attached documents.

Please note that some of the information provided has been redacted under Section 40 (personal information) of the FOI Act, as the information constitutes third party data. Section 40(2) provides that personal data about third parties is exempt information if one of the conditions set out in section 40(3) is satisfied.

Under the FOI Act disclosure of this information would breach the fair processing principle contained in the Data Protection Act (DPA), where it would be unfair to that person/is confidential. Releasing this information would breach the data protection protocol as it would be unfair to release individuals’ details when they did not intend them to be used in such a way. Section 40 is an absolute exemption and therefore not subject to the public interest test when considering disclosure of information.

With regard to point 3 and the meeting details – We are withholding this information under Section 22 of the FOI Act as in point 1.

This information will be published Spring 2017. On publication, this information will be freely available from the NHS England website at the following link:

·         https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/primary-care-comm/pharmacy/

Please note that not all of the information relevant to this element of your request will be published. We are withholding the information that will not be published under Section 43(2) of the FOI Act (commercial interests).

Section 43(2) of the FOI Act exempts from the general duty to release information which would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any entity, including the public authority holding the information.

Section 43(2) is a prejudice based exemption and, as such, we are required to assess both the prejudice test and the public interest test in withholding this information against that of its release.

When assessing the prejudice test, NHS England need to demonstrate that there would be an impact on the commercial interests of NHS England or upon a third party should this information be released. Release of such financial information would negatively impact upon other public sector and private organisations that are currently developing their procurement intentions as a result of an agreed allocation from the pharmacy integration fund.
This would be likely to damage NHS England’s reputation and business confidence as other organisations may not trust in NHS England to be able to keep such information confidential.

NHS England believes that releasing this information would also cause prejudice to NHS England itself as well as it is in the process of developing procurement plans for a range of services including service evaluation, project management, stakeholder engagement..

NHS England believes that releasing this information would also impact NHS England’s commercial position in future commercial negotiations on other contracts/policies.

As a result, it is in NHS England’s opinion that this sufficiently demonstrates the prejudice which would be caused through disclosure.

NHS England is also required to conduct the public interest test, which assesses whether releasing the information would be in the public interest despite the prejudice test being satisfied. It is important to bear in mind that any disclosure under the FOI Act is a disclosure to the public at large and not just to the applicant. We recognise that there is a general public interest in the transparency of public funding. However, we do not believe that this public interest is served in disclosure for damage that would be caused as outlined above.

Copyright: NHS England operates under the terms of the open government licence. Please see the NHS England Terms and conditions on the following link http://www.england.nhs.uk/terms-and-conditions/

We hope this information is helpful. However, if you are dissatisfied, you have the right to ask for an internal review by writing to us, within two months of the date of this letter, to:

NHS England
PO Box 16738
REDDITCH
B97 9PT

Email: england.contactus@nhs.net

Please quote the reference number FOI-027538 in any future communications.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) can be contacted at:

The Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Email: casework@ico.gsi.gov.uk
Website: www.ico.gov.uk

Please note there is no charge for making an appeal.

Please be aware that in line with the Information Commissioner’s directive on the disclosure of information under the FOI Act, your request will be anonymised and published on our website as part of our disclosure log.

Please do not reply to this email. This message has been sent from a central mailbox. To communicate with NHS England regarding Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, enquiries or complaints we ask these are sent directly to NHS England’s customer contact centre. This is to ensure all communications are progressed correctly. Their postal address, telephone number and email details are as follows:- PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PT; 0300 3 11 22 33, england.contactus@nhs.net.

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information
Corporate Communications Team
Transformation and Corporate Operations Directorate

NHS England
PO Box 16738
REDDITCH
B97 9PT

Tel: 0300 311 22 33
Email: england.contactus@nhs.net

‘High quality care for all, now and for future generations’