Richmond House
79 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2NS
Tel: 020 7210 3000
Our ref: DE538279
13 September 2010
Dear Mr Perrott
Thank you for your letter of 2 September, which was addressed to Jacky Buchan of the Customer Service Centre (CSC). This response will address your specific request for information under the Freedom of Information Act, as CSC have responded separately to the other issues you raised.
However, before I answer your FOI request, I would like to clarify the point you raised about a response provided by the FOI team to another applicant on 13 August, in which we had stated:
“The additional information about the three items requested cannot be sent at the present time as work on the first (literature) is not yet complete and the second two items (prescribing audit and specialist survey) have only just commenced in the last few weeks.”
As you may already know, we wrote to the applicant on 1 September, to explain and apologise:
“We have undertaken a review into the handling of this request. Specifically, you were concerned that the statement relating to the audit of prescribing records and survey of addiction specialists was incorrect.
Firstly, I should apologise for any confusion caused by our response.
This was due to a misunderstanding between the FOI Team and the policy team, and I am sorry that this caused inaccurate information to be sent to you. We will be putting in safeguards to minimise the risk of this happening again.
The situation remains as it was when Jim Dobbin MP met with the Minister in June 2010. Work on the literature review, services survey and an audit of GP prescribing will be completed by the end of the year when it will be shared with stakeholders and used to inform future policy.”
Turning our attention to your own FOI request, you asked for:
1. The number of people who have written to the Department in the last three years regarding benzodiazepine or z drug addiction.
I have conducted a search of the Department of Health’s correspondence database, and 89 items of correspondence relating to benzodiazepine or z drug addiction were received between 1 September 2007 and 31 August 2010. Some of the items were written by correspondents who had contacted the Department on more than one occasion. Therefore, 45 people wrote to the Department on 89 occasions over the past three years. As a further note, 17 of the correspondents were MPs, who, in some cases, were writing on behalf of constituents who had contacted the Department separately.
It is possible that other correspondence may have been sent directly to policy officials. However there are 200 policy teams within the Department, all of whose records would need to be searched in order to provide an authoritative response to your request. We estimate that doing so would engage Section 12(2) of the FOI Act. Section 12 of the FOI Act allows public bodies to refuse requests where the cost of compliance exceeds the appropriate limit. This is set at 3.5 working days or £600 for central Government.
Your request was forwarded to teams whose areas of responsibility were the most relevant to benzodiazepine or z drug addiction, but they confirmed that searching their records to establish whether they hold any information relevant to both your questions would exceed the appropriate limit specified under s12.
2. Copies of any briefings, reports, minutes of meetings or any documents prepared to inform Ministers of the content of these complaints, with personal information redacted.
It may be helpful to explain that the Customer Service Centre, when answering correspondence, will inform policy teams if new issues are raised. Although policy teams are unable to confirm whether they hold any Ministerial briefings, reports, minutes of meetings or documents that were prepared in response to such correspondence, I can confirm that 32 of the responses had been signed by Ministers, who would therefore have been aware of individual cases.
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision, you should write to:
Head of the Freedom of Information Team
Department of Health
Room 317
Richmond House
79 Whitehall,
London
SW1A 2NS
Email: freedomofinformation@dh.gsi.gov.uk
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Department. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
The Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely
Lynn Swyny
FOI Case Manager
Department of Health