Request

I have noticed an error in your letter. The privacy notice does not apply to me. I did not submit my claim to the NHSBSA. I submitted my claim under the old scheme/ to the earlier unit prior to Covid VDPS claims being transferred to the NHSBSA, this was before the NHSBSA even had a contract with Crawford & Co.

Again could I please request a copy of the privacy agreement governing my data, I have never agreed for it to be sent to a third party commercial provider that profits off my data. This is a serious data breach.

May I also request a copy of the contract between the NHSBSA and Crawford & Co.

Response

Privacy Notice

Unfortunately, this disclosure log does not currently support the file type which the requested information has been provided in. If you wish to request the information which was disclosed in response, please contact nhsbsa.foirequests@nhs.net quoting the above reference number.

We have supplied the privacy notice which was sent to all claimants which were transferred to the NHSBSA from Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) when we took over the processing of VDPS claims. The full privacy notice can be found at the below link:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/our-policies/privacy/vaccine-damage-payment-scheme-privacy-notice

The section on sharing information was updated in March 2022, to include sharing with Crawford & Company, while RTW Plus were added in June 2022.

Contract

Unfortunately, this disclosure log does not currently support the file type which the requested information has been provided in. If you wish to request the information which was disclosed in response, please contact nhsbsa.foirequests@nhs.net quoting the above reference number.

To date there have been no face-to-face consultations with claimants required to complete a VDPS medical assessment. The policy of the scheme requires assessments to be independent and every case to date an individual's medical records has been sufficient.

However, Schedule 2 of the contract with Crawford & Co ("the Supplier") sets out the policy if face-to-face consultation should be considered (see below for the relevant section). If, in exceptionally rare circumstances, if Crawford & Co believe a face-to-face consultation is needed, they can contact us to request this, providing a clear rationale for doing so. In this case we would engage with a suitable clinician ("appropriate Personnel") to seek their view to inform the medical assessment. For example, this could be a clinician involved in the care of the claimant. Any face-to-face consultation would not therefore be carried out by a Crawford & Co contracted medical assessor. It is vital that the medical assessor remains independent and impartial so that they can, having looked at all the evidence, make a fair, consistent, and complete assessment in each claim.

Schedule 2 paragraph 3.2 (f) the Supplier may decide from time to time that there is a need to carry out a face-to-face consultation with a claimant in order to decide on the degree of disablement. It is not expected by the Buyer that face-to-face assessments will be a general requirement in delivering the Service. (g) However, if the supplier believes that one is needed, they will need to: (i) consult with the Buyer regarding the justification for a face-to-face assessment and give clear rationale for the need for one; and (ii) agree with the Buyer appropriate procedures and safe-guarding measures for the meeting on a case-by-case basis; and (iii) ensure that any face-to-face assessment is carried out by appropriate Personnel

Redactions

Please note that some of the text is redacted (blacked out). The following sets out the exemptions which apply, and the public interest considerations in favour of disclosure vs those in favour of withholding the information.

Section 31(1) – Crime Prevention

The information you requested is being withheld as it falls under the exemption in section 31(1) of the Freedom of Information Act. In applying this exemption, we have balanced the public interest in withholding the information against the public interest in disclosing the information. The below link sets out the exemption in full. The information redacted under this exemption has been labelled within the document. All other redactions have been made under the other exemptions outlined below.

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

See the below the factors considered when deciding that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Factors for Disclosure

• There is no public interest in this information being placed in the public domain.

Factors for Withholding

• The e-mail address is for internal use, by colleagues and customers.

• The e-mail address could be targeted by cyber criminals for distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks or phishing.

• A successful cyber-attack could disrupt the NHSBSA’s core services, affecting our ability to function efficiently.

• The cost of recovering from a successful cyber-attack could be substantial, which would be at the taxpayers’ expense.

Section 40(2) – Personal Data

Please be aware that I have decided not to release full details of all staff as this information falls under the exemption in Section 40 subsections 2 and 3(A)(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 these people’s personal details to the world and is likely to cause damage or distress to staff b) These details are not of sufficient interest to the public to warrant an intrusion into the privacy of those staff.

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

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

Section 43(2) – Commercial Interests

The information you requested is being withheld as it falls under the exemption in section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act. In applying this exemption, we have balanced the public interest in withholding the information against the public interest in disclosing the information. The below link sets out the exemption in full.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/43

See the below the factors considered when deciding that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Factors for Disclosure

• Public accountability

• Transparency of financial information in an NHS organisation

Factors for Withholding

• Potential commercial damage to an organisation that acts in the best interests of public health and any possible future contractors

• Compromising of a scheme that has been implemented to assist members of the public who have suffered damage to their health following a vaccine – any such compromise could have a negative effect on the processing of the payments to which the claimants, leading to –

• Large scale loss of public confidence in a scheme which exists for their benefit

• Increased health problems and/or distress for VDPS claimants

• Overtly negative attention from the media/ campaign groups. Whilst public scrutiny should be expected – if it becomes so excessive as to actually damage the VDPS scheme itself, then this cannot be considered as being within the public interest.

In considering how the release of this information may prejudice the commercial interests of both parties we have taken into account any harm that would/would likely to be caused, namely –

• Information that is specific to the tendering process, even when the contract is established, could (if published) cause damage to the third party contractor because it would give any potential future contractors an unfair advantage should the contract ever go out to tender at a later date, leading to possible issues for the contractor in dealings with other organisations

• The release of tendering information could damage NHSBSA because it would discourage any potential contractors from submitting a bid if they felt that their data was likely to be published, leading to possible difficulties in creating future contracts.

In this case we feel it is in the best interests of the public that data relating to the tendering process is not disclosed. For the reasons outlined above we feel it is appropriate in this case to maintain the exemption and withhold the information. Because NHSBSA is applying an exemption to the above parts of the information, please accept this letter as a refusal notice issued in accordance with section 17 of this Act.