1. Introduction
1.1 The NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) supports the Government’s commitment to greater openness in the public sector, furthering the aims of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Enabling members of the public to apply to access key documents, to scrutinise and question the decisions of public authorities more closely and judge whether functions performed, or services provided are properly delivered.
1.2 NHSCFA wishes to facilitate a climate of openness and dialogue with all stakeholders, to improve access to information about the organisation that will help support this aim. NHSCFA will wherever possible, make such information available in a range of formats, required to meet the needs of the individual requesting the information.
1.3 NHSCFA recognises that individuals also have a right to privacy and confidentiality. This policy does not overturn the common law duty of confidentiality or the statutory provisions that prevent disclosure of person identifiable information. The release of such person identifiable information is covered by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2016 and the Data Protection Act 2018 and is dealt with separately in associated information governance policies.
2. Policy statement
2.1 This document outlines the Freedom of Information and Environmental policy for the NHSCFA.
2.2 The purpose of this policy is to ensure that the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 are adhered to. Both regimes have been fully in force since 1 January 2005.
2.3 The Minister for the Cabinet Office under section 45 and the Secretary of State under section 46 of the Freedom of Information Act, have issued codes of practice. These provide guidance to relevant public authorities as to the practice which in their opinion, would be desirable for authorities to follow in connection with the discharge of their functions under Part 1 of the Act; as well as the practice to be followed in connection with the keeping, management and destruction of their records.
3. Principles
3.1 The purpose of this policy is to ensure timely access to information held by the NHSCFA to promote greater openness, provide increased transparency of decision making and to build public trust and confidence. These aims will be balanced against the need to ensure the confidentiality of some information relating to areas such as personal privacy, operational and/or commercial sensitivity and where disclosure would not be in the public interest.
3.2 The policy and procedure will be reviewed periodically by the NHSCFA Senior Management Team (SMT), with any recommendations made to the Board. Where review is necessary due to legislative change this will be undertaken immediately.
3.3 In line with NHSCFA policies this policy will not discriminate, either directly or indirectly, in respect of any of the protected characteristics enshrined in the Equality Act 2010.
4. Freedom of Information Act - main features
4.1 The main features of the Act are:
- a ‘general right of access’ from 1 January 2005 to recorded information held by public authorities, subject to certain conditions and exemptions
- a duty on public authorities to inform the applicant whether they hold the information requested and, subject to certain conditions and exemptions, communicate the information to them
- a duty on every public authority to adopt and maintain a model Publication Scheme. This duty has been applicable to all public authorities since 2009
- the establishment of the office of Information Commissioner (ICO) with wide powers to enforce the rights created by the Act and to promote good practice together with an information tribunal, in the General Regulatory Chamber
This chamber is one of 7 chambers of the First-tier Tribunal which settles legal disputes and is structured around particular areas of law. The chamber is responsible for handling appeals against decisions made by government regulatory bodies in cases relating to information rights.
5. Environmental Information Regulations - main features
5.1 The main features of the Regulations are:
- the range of bodies covered by the Regulations is wider to allow for consistency with EC Directives (e.g. includes public utilities, certain public/private partnerships and private companies, such as transport and energy sectors)
- requests for environmental information need not be made in writing
- the requirement for public authorities to have in place a complaints and reconsideration procedure, to deal with representations alleging non-compliance with the Regulations is mandatory
- no exception is made for requests that will involve costs in excess of the ‘appropriate limit’ within the meaning of the Fees Regulations made under sections 9, 12 and 13 of the Freedom of Information Act. Except in specified limited circumstances, all requests must be dealt with and any charges imposed must be reasonable.
6. Publication Scheme and guide to information
6.1 Section 19 of the Act makes it the duty of every public authority to adopt a Publication Scheme approved by the Commissioner and proactively publish the information of the authority.
6.2 NHSCFA has adopted the Model Publication Scheme issued by the Information Commissioner in 2015, which gives an overview of the information that the organisation publishes and intends to publish in the future. It details the format in which the information is available and whether a charge will be made for the provision of that information.
6.3 The Publication Scheme is available on the NHSCFA website https://cfa.nhs.uk. The organisation’s compliance with the requirement to publish information as set out in the ICO’s guidance will be regularly reviewed by the Information Governance and Risk Management Lead and the content of the website will be updated accordingly.
6.4 Information in the Publication Scheme will be made automatically and proactively available. In most cases information which is made available via the Publication Scheme will be downloadable from the website. In the event that an enquirer is unable to download the information, applications for the information to be supplied in another format may be made verbally or in writing.
7. Charges and fees
7.1 Charges and fees will only be levied in exceptional circumstances, for example where large volumes of hard copy materials are requested, in which case the NHSCFA will follow the Fees Regulations#footnote-11. In general, no charge will be levied.
8. Time limits for compliance with request
8.1 The NHSCFA has established systems and procedures in place to ensure the organisation complies with the duty to respond to requests within 20 working days of receipt, in accordance with Section 10 of the Act. All staff are required to comply with the requirements of these procedures by ensuring that requests are forwarded to the appropriate persons in a timely manner.
9. Datasets and re-use of information
9.1 Section 102 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 adds new provisions to the Freedom of Information Act (section 11) regarding datasets.
9.2 A dataset consists of a collection of information held in electronic form, which has been obtained or recorded for the purpose of providing information in connection with the provision of a service or the carrying out of any function of the authority.
It is factual information which is not the product of analysis or interpretation other than calculation. It is not statistical information and remains presented in a way (other than forming part of the collection) that has not been organised, adapted or otherwise, materially altered since it was recorded.
9.3 The new provisions relate to how information is released and any information the NHSCFA holds as a ‘dataset’, which is a defined term in the new provisions. If the NHSCFA provides information that constitutes a dataset and the requester has expressed a preference to receive the information in electronic form, the organisation must provide it in a re-usable format so far as reasonably practicable.
9.4 In accordance with the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015 a public authority has to make information and metadata available through standard licences and machine-readable formats wherever reasonably practicable.
9.5 Metadata is data that describes other data it is connected to, whether that data is video, photography, web pages, content or spreadsheets. It summarises basic information about data such as its author, date created, usage, file size etc.
9.6 The dataset provisions do not only create a duty under the Freedom of Information Act section 11(1A), for the NHSCFA to provide datasets in a form that is technically ‘capable of re-use’, but also a duty under section 11A(2) to provide datasets that are relevant copyrighted works under a license that permits re-use. These provisions do not remove those rights and any third party rights also need to be taken into consideration.
9.7 The NHSCFA will grant re-use of any datasets that it owns/holds under the Open Government License (OGL) that can be re-used without charge, subject to certain conditions.
10. Policy
10.1 The NHSCFA regards the lawful and correct management of all its information as critical to the success of its functions and to maintaining the confidence of those with whom it works and provides services to.
10.2 We must ensure that at all times the NHSCFA manages this resource lawfully and correctly. The NHSCFA acknowledges its obligations as set out under the Freedom of Information Act and the Environmental Information Regulations. It fully endorses the requirement to provide greater accessibility to all information, thereby promoting a culture of openness, enabling greater public scrutiny.
10.3 The NHSCFA accepts everyone has a general right of access to information it holds and therefore the following rights as set out within the Act will be adhered to:
- the right to be informed whether or not the information requested is held by the NHSCFA
- the right to have that information communicated to the applicant
- the right for the applicant to receive advice and assistance to help them make and frame their request
The NHSCFA will not release information to which any of the exemptions detailed in the Act and set out below applies.
Procedural Exemptions
(no requirement to consider the test for public interest)
- Section 12 - Where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit#footnote-2[2]