Request
Hello
I believe the SHA cluster will have recently submitted a list to the Department of Health of PCT properties used to provide community services, which are to be transfered to acute, mental health and aspirant community foundation trusts.
The DH letter setting out this policy is here:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/documents/digitalasset/dh_129123.pdf
Can you send me the list of properties proposed to be transfered, please? I'd like to know the value of the assets, which PCTs they are transfering to, and which trust is taking the over.
Our Response
I refer to your email requesting information in respect of PCT properties used to provide community services, which are to be transferred to acute, mental health and aspirant community foundation trusts.
I can confirm in accordance with S.1 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) that we do hold the information that you have requested.
However, we believe that the information falling within the remit of your request is exempt from disclosure by reason of Section 22 (1) of the FOIA. Section 22 relates to information that is intended for publication at a later date.
Work on the future of the PCT estate remains on-going and is policy under development. The lists submitted to the DH are provisional, and subject to change. Although the guidance published on 4 August refers to a deadline of 15 December 2011 for the Department of Health to review and sign-off the provisional lists, in reality further information is required about a number of properties before it is possible to sign off the provisional lists. Further policy developments and guidance that will subsequently be published may also alter the proposed property transfers to NHS providers.
In our view, section 22 covers all versions of the information requested prior to publication, on the basis that until a final version of the transfer lists is ready for publication it cannot be determined with confidence which proposed transfers will or will not be excluded from the published version. The Department does intend to publish the information you request, at the appropriate time (i.e. the once provisional lists have been finalised) although it is not yet possible to say precisely when this will be.
Since Section 22 is a qualified exemption, we are required to assess as objectively as possible whether the balance of public interest favours disclosing or withholding the information.
In general, there is a public interest in the availability of information about the future of the PCT estate. However, we have also taken into account the fact that work on the future of the PCT estate remains on-going and is policy under development. This work area is both a live and a sensitive issue, and we consider that the quality of this work and, potentially, its outcome could be severely prejudiced if the information on which that consideration is based were to be opened up to premature public debate. In this instance, we have determined that the balance of public interest strongly favours withholding the information.
The Department of Health does intend to publish the information you request, at the appropriate time (i.e. the once provisional lists have been finalised) although it is not yet possible to say precisely when this will be.
I hope that this information is of use. If you are dissatisfied with the way in which we have dealt with your request you can ask us to review our decision by writing to:-
Mr Moosa Patel
Director of Corporate Affairs
NHS East Midlands
Octavia House
Interchange Business Park
Bostock's Lane
Sandiacre
Nottingham
NG10 5QG
