Request
Dear FOI officer,
I'm looking to find information relating to staff within your organisation. Consequently, I attach below three related FOI requests. I'd be grateful if you could reply via email with the details. I'm more than happy to clarify anthing. Please treat all as one request or as three separate requests as you see fit.
1. Gardening leave
How many employees has your organisation placed on gardening leave in each of the last four financial years for which figures are available?
In each individual case, please provide the length of the gardening leave in days. For each of the last four financial years (where relevant), please provide the total cost in salary paid out to such individuals (to avoid my being able to identify the individual, please just give the total cost of these salary payments incurred by your organisation). If the gardening leave is currently occuring, please provide the total number of days of leave as at 31 April 2011.
2. Staff suspended with pay
How many employees has your organisation suspended in each of the last four financial years for which figures are available? (By 'suspended', I mean any employee who has been stopped from undertaking their usual duties as a consequence of disciplinary action being taken against them, or an investigation ongoing.)
Of these suspended employees, how many individuals were suspended on pay. By 'on pay' I mean any individual who continued to receive a salary from your institution (even if the salary was reduced).
In each case, please provide the length of the suspension in days. For each of the last four financial years (where relevant), please provide the total cost in salary paid out to such individuals (to avoid my being able to identify the individual, please just give the total cost of these salary payments incurred by your organisation). If the suspension is currently occuring, please provide the total number of days of suspension as at 31 April 2011.
3. Staff on long-term sickness
How many of your organisation's employees have been on long-term sickness absence in each of the last four financial years for which figures are available? (By 'long term sickness absence', I mean absence from work of longer than four consecutive weeks).
How many incidences of long-term sickness absence have occured in your organisation in each of the last four financial years for which figures are available? (I.e. this is the same question as the previous one, but would include individuals who have had more than one period of longterm absence in a year).
In each case, please provide the total length of the absence in days. For each of the last four financial years (where relevant), please provide the total cost in salary paid out to such individuals (to avoid my being able to identify the individual, please just give the total cost of these salary payments incurred by your organisation). If the absence is currently occuring, please provide the total number of days of absence as at 31 April 2011.
Our Response
I can confirm in accordance with S.1 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) that we do hold most of the information that you have requested. I will address each of your queries in turn:
1. Gardening leave
How many employees has your organisation placed on gardening leave in each of the last four financial years for which figures are available?
In each individual case, please provide the length of the gardening leave in days. For each of the last four financial years (where relevant), please provide the total cost in salary paid out to such individuals (to avoid my being able to identify the individual, please just give the total cost of these salary payments incurred by your organisation). If the gardening leave is currently occurring, please provide the total number of days of leave as at 31 April 2011.
2. Staff suspended with pay
How many employees has your organisation suspended in each of the last four financial years for which figures are available? (By 'suspended', I mean any employee who has been stopped from undertaking their usual duties as a consequence of disciplinary action being taken against them, or an investigation on-going.)
Of these suspended employees, how many individuals were suspended on pay. By 'on pay' I mean any individual who continued to receive a salary from your institution (even if the salary was reduced).
In each case, please provide the length of the suspension in days. For each of the last four financial years (where relevant), please provide the total cost in salary paid out to such individuals (to avoid my being able to identify the individual, please just give the total cost of these salary payments incurred by your organisation). If the suspension is currently occurring, please provide the total number of days of suspension as at 31 April 2011.
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The information that you require refers to very a small number of staff. As such, our decision to withhold it is in line with the current guidance available to us on the use of small number data from which a person could be identified. The purpose of section 40 of the Act is to protect personally identifiable information and the privacy of living persons.
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One of the main differences between the Data Protection Act (1998) and the Freedom of Information Act (2000) is that any information released under FOI is released into the public domain, not just to the individual requesting the information. As such, any release that identifies an individual through releasing their personal data, even third party personal data, is exempted unless there is a strong public interest in release. The public interest is not what interests the public but what benefits the community as a whole.
3. Staff on long-term sickness
How many of your organisation's employees have been on long-term sickness absence in each of the last four financial years for which figures are available? (By 'long term sickness absence', I mean absence from work of longer than four consecutive weeks).
Note: Where an absence started in one financial year but continued into a second, e.g. 1st March 2008-1st May 2009, it has been counted against the year in which the absence commenced.
How many incidences of long-term sickness absence have occurred in your organisation in each of the last four financial years for which figures are available? (I.e. this is the same question as the previous one, but would include individuals who have had more than one period of long-term absence in a year).
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2007-2008 = 14
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2008-2009 = 15
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2009-2010 = 8
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2010-2011 = 13
In each case, please provide the total length of the absence in days.
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As per our response in terms of your question 2 above, we are of the opinion that the exemption provided under section 40 (2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 applies to the information that you have requested. This exemption relates to personal data about another individual whose disclosure would breach the data protection principles in the Data Protection Act 1998.
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The information that you require refers to very a small number of staff. As such, our decision to withhold it is in line with the current guidance available to us on the use of small number data from which a person could be identified. The purpose of section 40 of the Act is to protect personally identifiable information and the privacy of living persons.
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One of the main differences between the Data Protection Act (1998) and the Freedom of Information Act (2000) is that any information released under FOI is released into the public domain, not just to the individual requesting the information. As such, any release that identifies an individual through releasing their personal data, even third party personal data, is exempted unless there is a strong public interest in release. The public interest is not what interests the public but what benefits the community as a whole.
For each of the last four financial years (where relevant), please provide the total cost in salary paid out to such individuals (to avoid my being able to identify the individual, please just give the total cost of these salary payments incurred by your organisation). If the absence is currently occurring, please provide the total number of days of absence as at 31 April 2011.
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This information is not readily available and would require us having to interrogate the payroll records of the staff on a month by month basis during the time they were absent, because their entitlements to sick pay (full pay, half-pay and ‘nil’ pay, including any enhancements) will vary on a case by case basis.
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We have therefore estimated that complying with this part of your request would exceed the appropriate costs limit as laid out in section 12 of the FOIA. This limit is currently set at £450. We have estimated in order to locate, retrieve and extract the information would take in excess of 18 hours. At the hourly rate of £25 per person per hour as set by regulation 4 of the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004, this would exceed the costs limit. Therefore, we are unable to disclose information to you in this instance as this would place too high a burden on the resources of NHS East Midlands.
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In accordance with our duty under section 16 FOIA to provide advice and assistance, we would like to make you aware that you may resubmit a narrowed down request for information which can be handled within the 18 hours fees limit. Please note however that whilst we would not look to discourage you from narrowing your request, it is possible that further exemptions may be applicable which would potentially prevent disclosure.
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
If at the conclusion of any review you remain dissatisfied you may complain to the Information Commissioner who can be contacted at:-
The Office of the Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
