FOI-02961

Thank you for your request for information about the following:   
 
<strong>Request</strong> 
 
<p><i>‘‘for the name of the assessor and the pier reviewer with their relevant positions of employment within your organisation ,to be disclosed’’</i></p>
 
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 29 June 2025. 
 
We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).  
 
<strong>Our response</strong> 
 
<strong>Name(s)</strong>
 
The NHSBSA administers the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) on behalf of the Department for Health and Social Care. We contract a third-party supplier, Crawford and Company; to carry out medical assessments for the VDPS and therefore neither are employed by the NHSBSA. 
 
Regarding the names of the assessor and peer reviewer, I can confirm that this information is held by the NHSBSA as it is included in the medical report received from the medical assessment supplier. 
 
I can confirm that we do hold information on the names for independent medical assessors. Please note that this response does not relate to a specific claim or claimant. The request is being answered more generally given requests under FOIA are requester-blind, that is to say the identity of the requester is not taken into account when considering a request for information under FOIA. 
 
We consider the name to be personal data under the Data Protection Act 2018. Disclosure of their names would result in their identification. 
 
Please be aware that I have decided not to release the names of the independent medical assessors as this information falls under the exemption in section 40 subsections 2 and 3(A)(a) of the FOIA. 
 
As the requested information would allow an independent medical assessor to be identified, I consider this information is exempt. This is because it would breach the first data protection principle as: 
 
A.	it is not fair to disclose their personal details to the world and is likely to cause damage or distress.  
B.	these details are not of sufficient interest to the public to warrant an intrusion into their privacy. 
  
The requested information is exempt if disclosure contravenes any of the data protection principles. For disclosure to comply with the lawfulness, fairness, and transparency principle, we either need the consent of the data subject(s) or there must be a legitimate interest in disclosure. In addition, the disclosure must be necessary to meet the legitimate interest and finally, the disclosure must not cause unwarranted harm.   
  
This means that the NHSBSA is therefore required to conduct a balancing exercise between the legitimate interest of the applicant in disclosure against the rights and freedoms of the medical assessor.   
  
While I acknowledge that you have a legitimate interest in disclosure of the information, the disclosure of the requested information would cause unwarranted harm.   
  
Disclosure under FOIA is to the world and therefore the NHSBSA has to consider the overall impact of the disclosure and its duty of care. The expectation of the medical assessors is that they will remain anonymous and will therefore not be subject to contact or pressure from claimants or campaigning groups.   
  
Given the certainty that the name will identify them, there is a reasonable expectation that this information will not be disclosed under the FOIA. Disclosing this information would be unfair and as such would breach the UK General Data Protection Regulation first data protection principle.   
  
Please see the following link to view the section 40 exemption in full:  
  
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/40 
 
In addition, the medical assessor has not consented to this disclosure. 

<strong>Data Queries</strong>

Please contact <a href=mailto:foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk>foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk</a>  ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data.

<strong>Reusing the data and copyright</strong>

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact <a href=mailto:communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk>communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk</a>. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “NHSBSA Copyright 2025” This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.

Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.

Tags: Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, nhsbsa, vdps
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log