FOI/24/114

Response

1. Please give me the total trust spend for each of the following ET claims:

Mr E Petrica v Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust: 3327705/2017 and 335871/2017

For each case, please break the spending down into the following categories:

a. Solicitors’ fees* (if applicable) Section 43 exemption applied - see below

b. Barristers’ fees* (if applicable) Section 43 exemption applied - see below

c. External mediator fees (if applicable) d. External investigator fees** (if applicable) e. Salary paid to the claimant while suspended (if applicable) f. Salary paid to workers brought in to cover shifts of the suspended claimant (if applicable) g. Total paid to claimant as part of settlement agreement (if applicable) h. Any other relevant costs Section 40 exemption applied see below

For each case, please also provide the names of the solicitors' firm(s), barrister(s)/chamber(s), mediator/mediation firm(s), and investigator(s) that the costs were paid to. Section 43 exemption applied – see below

 

2. The cases listed in Question One are all taken from the Government Employment Tribunal (ET) website for cases where PIDA (Public Interest Disclosure Act) claims have advanced quite far, usually with several preliminary hearings held. Most cases do not get this far.
   Please tell me how many other cases you have in which current or former employees lodged ET1 claim forms alleging a Public Interest Disclosure Act claim between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2024 that are not included in the list in Question One. Section 22 Exemption applied – See below

 

Please give the total trust spend on these additional claims, broken down into the following categories:

 

a. Solicitors’ fees* (if applicable) Section 43 exemption applied - see below

b. Barristers’ fees* (if applicable) Section 43 exemption applied - see below

c. External mediator fees (if applicable) d. External investigator fees** (if applicable) e. Salary paid to the claimants while suspended (if applicable) f. Salary paid to workers brought in to cover shifts of the suspended claimants (if applicable) g. Total paid to claimants as part of settlement agreement (if applicable) h. Any other relevant costs Section 40 exemption applied see below

 

For a to d, please provide the names of the firms, companies, and/or individuals to whom the costs were paid. Section 43 exemption applied - see below

 

**NB:**

*All solicitors’ and barristers’ fees disclosed should include spending on both legal and non-legal services. These ‘non-legal’ services include (but are not limited to) investigations, advice on pre-litigation strategy, mediation, and mediation training.

 

**“Investigator” covers investigators brought in to carry out investigations both into concerns raised by claimants (e.g., a Royal College hired to investigate patient safety concerns) and an external investigator brought in to review or investigate the conduct and/or capacity of the claimant (e.g., an HR firm hired to carry out an independent investigation of the claimant’s conduct). For the avoidance of doubt, this covers both formal and informal investigations, inquiries, and “reviews”.

3. Please provide your trust spend in GBP on legal retainers or other similar contractual arrangements with any legal firm or barrister/chambers between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2024. Section 43 exemption applied - see below

 

Please break this down by financial year and by name of the firm/barrister/chambers in receipt of funds. Section 43 exemption applied - see below

 

Explanation of exemptions applied:

Following a close review of the request, the subject request is in relations to one case that has been published in the public domian, the trust feels the following exemptions should be applied to question 1a and 1b & 2a and 2b & Q3:

Section 43 – Commercial Interest

Section 43(2) exempts information whose disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (an individual, a company, the public authority itself or any other legal entity). Disclosure of the requested information could prejudice pending or future negotiations the CLCH may be subject to.

 

This is a qualified exemption under the FOIA, which means that consideration must also be given to whether in all the circumstances of the case the public interest favouring disclosure is greater than the public interest in maintaining the exemption. The public interest means what is in the best interests of the public not what is of interest to the public.

 

Factors in favour of discloser:  

 

·       Disclosing information relating to [information to question 1a and 1b & 2a and 2b & 3] would promote accountability and transparency by showing how CLCH receive and spend public money. 

 

Factors in favour of non-disclosure: 

·       Disclosing the [information to question 1a and 1b & 2a and 2b & 3] would undermine our competitive position in the marketplace. 

·       Disclosing the [information to question 1a and 1b & 2a and 2b & 3] would compromise the commercial activities of CLCH, as it would compromise its ability to negotiate competitive future deals.

·       Disclosure of the [information to question 1a and 1b & 2a and 2b 3], is likely to lead to reputational and financial damage which would affect future investments and have a knock-on effect to the money raised for the health economy.

 

Having considered the above, we maintain that the factors in favour of upholding the exemption outweigh the factors in favour of disclosure. Therefore, the balance of the public interest test is greater in maintaining the exemption available under section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. 

 

The below has been applied to question 2:

 

Section 22 - Information intended for future publication

Having completed enquiries within CLCH, In respect of Sec1(1)(a) CLCH does hold information relating to your request however this information will be published in the near future, therefore for the purpose of section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), this part of our response serves as a formal notification of refusal of your request on the basis that the exemption given at Section 22 of the FOIA applies (Information intended for future publication).

 

(1) Information is exempt information if—

(a)the information is held by the public authority with a view to its publication, by the authority or any other person, at some future date (whether determined or not),

(b)the information was already held with a view to such publication at the time when the request for information was made, and

(c)it is reasonable in all the circumstances that the information should be withheld from disclosure until the date referred to in paragraph (a).

The below exemption has been applied to question 1c & 2c

Section 40 – Below Band 8 staff details

Under section 40 (2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, a public authority does not have to provide information where that information is considered personal information under the Data Protection Act 2018. CLCH do not provide personal information of staff members below Band 8.