FOI-02330

Thank you for your request for information about the following: 

##Request 

‘Thanks for your email , could you please advise details of the independent medical assessors contact details , employment details etc . If they are limited company ,or individuals 

For a freedom of information request , please provide details as follows  

Names of assessors  

Names of companies involved  

Connections of assessors with pharmaceutical companies related to the claim , 

If this information is not available please could you provide the reasons not forthwith’ 

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 16 October 2024.  

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. 

##Our response 

##Question 1 

##Names of medical assessors 

I can confirm that we do hold information relating to medical assessors. However, we consider the names to be personal data under section 3(2) of the Data Protection Act 2018. Disclosure of the medical assessor’s names would result in the identification of the medical assessors. 

Please be aware that I have decided not to release the names of 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 a medical assessor to be identified, I consider this information is exempt. This is because it would breach the first data protection principle as:  

it is not fair to disclose medical assessors’ personal details to the world and is likely to cause damage or distress. 

these details are not of sufficient interest to the public to warrant an intrusion into the privacy of the medical assessor. 

The requested information is exempt if disclosure would contravene 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 the medical assessor there is a reasonable expectation that this information will not be disclosed under the FOIA. Disclosing this information would be unfair and as such this 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 

##Question 2 

##Names of companies involved  

Under Section 21 of the FOIA we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you.  

The information you requested is available within question one at the below link: 

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-01680  

Please see the following link to view the section 21 in full - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/21  

##Question 3 

##Connections of assessors with pharmaceutical companies related to the claim 

I am writing to advise you that that the information you requested is not held by the NHS Business Services Authority. 

##Data Queries 

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing, the data please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented. 

##Reusing the data and copyright 

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data, please contact communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk. 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 2024” 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: VDPS, Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log