Request

Our response

The following response does not relate to a specific application or applicant. This request is being answered on a general basis as requests under FOIA are requester-blind, therefore the identity of the requester is not taken into account when considering a request for information under FOIA.

Names and contact details of the EIBSS medical assessors

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested, however we consider this information to be personal data under the Data Protection Act 2018, as disclosure of any individuals’ name would result in their identification.

Please be aware that I have decided not to release full details of EIBSS medical assessors as this information falls under the exemption in Section 40 subsections 2 and 3(A)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act.

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:

a) it is not fair to disclose medical assessors’ 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 the privacy of the medical assessor

The expectation of the medical assessors is that they will remain anonymous and will therefore not be subject to contact or pressure from claimants. Given the certainty that releasing their name and contact details will identify the medical assessor there is a reasonable expectation that this information will not be disclosed under FOIA.

In addition, the medical assessor has not consented to this disclosure. Disclosing this information would be unfair and as such this would breach the UK GDPR first data protection principle.

Please see the web link below to see the exemption in full:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/40

Names and contact details of the Appeals Panel

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested.

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 on the NHSBSA website:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-24399

Please see the following link to view the section 21 in full:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/2

Please note that the appeal panel does not consent to being contacted in relation to their work. All queries or requests to contact them should be made through EIBSS.

In addition, they may not be contacted to further any appeal/grievance which must be done via the EIBSS appeal process, information on which can be found at the below web link:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/who-can-join-scheme-and-how-apply/how-appeal

Please note that the NHSBSA complaints process is not available for application decision disagreements. If you do wish to raise a complaint about the service you have received from us, please see the NHSBSA Complaints Policy which is available at:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/contact-us/complaints

Publishing this response

Please note that this information will be published on our Freedom of Information disclosure log at:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-03333

Your personal details will be removed from the published response.

Advice and assistance

For further assurance, you may find it helpful to view our previously published FOI response confirming the qualifications of EIBSS medical assessors. This information is available at:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02502