Request

• Vaccine damage payment scheme medical assessor's GMC number, qualifications, and experience • A copy of the VDPS guidance the medical assessors follow

Response

Section 21 of the FoI Act, allows us to direct you to information, which is already reasonably accessible to you, as it is already in the public domain

The Vaccine Damage Payment Act 1979 states that a person shall be deemed severely disabled if the disablement is assessed as severe (60% or more). Assessment of the level of disablement is carried out in accordance with Section 103 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 and Schedule 2 of The Social Security (General Benefit) Regulations 1982 (legislation.gov.uk)

The VDPS Act also states that if a person is assessed to be severely disabled, the question whether his severe disablement results from vaccination against any of the diseases to which the Act applies shall be determined for the purposes of the Act on the balance of probability.

The Supplier contracted by NHSBSA makes their assessment independently of the NHSBSA and undertaking medical assessments is not an NHSBSA core function.

All claims are assessed by the independent medical assessment company with a consistent approach. Each case is considered on its own merits, by an experienced independent medical assessor, all of whom are General Medical Council registered doctors with a license to practice. Medical assessors will consider clinical research, epidemiological evidence and the current consensus of expert medical opinion’ together with a claimant’s application and their medical records from their healthcare providers to make a clinical assessment on whether it is more probable than not that the vaccine has caused disablement, and if so, whether that disablement is severe.

Independent medical assessors use resources to support their assessment including, but not limited to: • Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) data including Yellow Card information on suspected safety concerns involving a healthcare product. Yellow Card | Making medicines and medical devices safer (mhra.gov.uk) Coronavirus vaccine - summary of Yellow Card reporting - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) • Vaccine product information and updates • The Green Book – A reference material produced by UK Health Security Agency and used by healthcare professionals in the UK. The green book brings together all documents relating to immunisation against infectious diseases. Immunisation against infectious disease: the green book front cover and contents page - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

We are making a full disclosure of the following:

• Disablement presentation, where slides 7, 8 and 9 were previously withheld • DWP Handbook extracts

The DWP Handbook extracts are taken from the Industrial Injury Benefits documentation shared with us by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to assist in providing guidance to support the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS).

During recent discussions with DWP we have become aware that the Industrial Injuries Benefits guidance documents they shared with us are in the public domain, so we have disclosed those parts of the DWP guidance that are used for supporting VDPS medical assessments.

We are disclosing most of the information in the following:

• Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme - A Handbook for Medical Assessors as of 3 October 2022 • 220811 RTW Plus Disablement Workshop

This is because:

1) most of the guidance is based on information that is already in the public domain
2) the level of public interest in how VDPS undertakes medical assessments outweighs the factors for withholding the information

We have withheld personal data of the authors and reviewers of the guidance for the same reasons stated below relating to medical assessor’s personal information. Accordingly, we rely upon the section 40(2) (personal information) and section 38 (health and safety) exemptions.

We rely upon the section 38 (health and safety) exemption, on the basis that disclosure would also endanger the physical and/or mental health and/or safety of the medical assessor.

We are satisfied that the public interest in maintaining the section 38 exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. While recognising your interest in obtaining this information, and the general public interest in transparency, there is a strong public interest that data protection principles are complied with, people’s health and safety is not endangered, and that the operation of the VDPS service is not prejudiced.

The below web links set out these exemptions in full:

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

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/38

We have withheld specific details of email and systems used as part of the VDPS service under the section 31(1) (law enforcement) exemption. The release of this information would be likely to prejudice the prevention of crime, because the disclosure of such specific information is likely to put VDPS related emails and IT systems at greater risk of cyber-attacks.

We are satisfied that the public interest in maintaining the section 31(1) exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. While recognising the general public interest in transparency, the withheld information relates to specific administrative and technical processes (not substantive guidance and principles under which VDPS operates and claims are determined), and there is a strong public interest in preventing crime and safeguarding VDPS systems and people’s sensitive personal information from cyber-attacks.

The below web link sets out the exemption in full.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/31

The redacted paragraph on page 30 of the medical assessor’s guidance and part of slide 3 of 220811 RTW Plus Disablement Workshop relate to discussions between the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHSBSA.

NHSBSA’s Chief Executive (the qualified person for the purposes of section 36) is of the opinion that disclosure of this information would inhibit the free and frank provision of advice, inhibit the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation, or otherwise prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs.

We have set out the reasons why this exemption applies, and the public interest in favour of maintaining it, to the ICO.

The below web link sets out the exemption in full. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/36

Medical Assessor GMC number

The FOI response incorrectly stated this information was not held.

GMC numbers are included in the medical report received from the medical assessment supplier. The medical assessor does not have any direct contact with any claimant as only the NHSBSA deal directly with the claimant. Therefore, the medical assessor’s personal data is redacted before this medical report is disclosed to the claimant or their representative.

The medical assessor can be identified from their GMC number as there is a publicly available register at https://www.gmc-uk.org/registration-and-licensing/the-medical-register

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 GMC number will identify the medical assessor there is a reasonable expectation that this information will not be disclosed under FOI. Disclosing this information would be unfair and as such this would breach the UK GDPR first data protection principle.

With regards to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) there have been concerns for the health and safety of medical assessors and staff administering the scheme. Disclosure of the GMC number is likely to result in considerable distress to the medical assessor.

Therefore, this information falls under the exemption in section 40 subsections 2 and 3A (a) of the Freedom of Information Act.

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

Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full.

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

In addition, the medical assessor has not consented to this disclosure.

Medical Assessors Qualification and Experience I am writing to advise you that following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by the NHS Business Services Authority.

The GMC number may be used to access the qualifications and experience on the GMC public register but they are not downloaded and held by the NHSBSA.

Even if this information were held by the NHSBSA then the Medical Assessor is likely to be identified from their qualifications and experience.

Therefore, this information falls under the exemption in section 40 subsections 2 and 3A (a) of the Freedom of Information Act.

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

Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full.

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

In addition, the medical assessor has not consented to this disclosure.

Please note that this request and our response is published on our Freedom of Information disclosure log at https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-27795

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data, please contact nhsbsa.foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data, please contact nhsbsa.communicationsteam@nhs.net. 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.

Should you wish to re-use the DWP sourced guidance you must include the following statement: “DWP Copyright 2023” This information is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Should you wish to re-use any of the VDPS specific guidance information you must include the following statement: “NHSBSA Copyright 2023” This information is licensed 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.