Unpeeling the Fluff - Overcoming Obfuscation

A first “answer” to FOIs 1, 2 and 4

Following the failed Covid Contracts, we submitted three FOI requests to NHS England, as it assumed responsibility for all functions previously held by NHS Digital. NHS Digital was the sponsor of the original contracts.

Unpeeling the Fluff - Layer by Layer - Part 1

Unpeeling the Fluff - Layer by Layer - Part 2

Unpeeling the Fluff - Layer by Layer - Part 4

We asked the same question for each separate contract: How did Joe or Jane, the taxpayer, benefit from the money spent on their behalf?

We got an “answer” very quickly:

On the 25th, we answered as follows:

One of our concerns is the conflation of requests that would fulfil Section 12 of the FOI Act, as the cost of compliance would exceed the appropriate limits. The section allows for the refusal of requests where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for central government is set at £600.

The cost of all this NHS secrecy is huge.  Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust spent £270,000 in 2021, £1.2 million in 2023, and £710,000 in 2024 dealing with FOI requests.  NHS England and local integrated care boards spent £140m on consultancy fees between 2019-20 and 2022-23, indirectly related to FOI compliance.

In 2023, across all NHS bodies, a total of 70,475 FOI requests were received. Assuming the costs of £600 per FOI request, this equates to a total spend of £42,285,000. Given all the ancillary costs associated with the back-and-forth, denials, and lack of transparency, this is likely an underestimate; the actual costs are likely to exceed the £100 million mark.

TTE’s investigations into where all the NHS money goes increasingly reveal that a significant amount is redirected from patient care to obfuscating the truth.

This post was written by two dogged old geezers who would like to know all about escape and evasion.