Freedom of Information Act 2000
Complaints Procedure

 

Background
This complaints procedure has been developed in accordance with the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs' Code of Practice on the discharge of public authorities' functions under Part I of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 Issued under Section 45 of the Act.

Why is this Complaints Procedure required?
The Trust is obliged to establish a complaints procedure, which can be used by:

• Any person who perceives that the authority is not complying with its Publication Scheme.
• Any person who considers that their request for Trust information has not been properly handled, or who are otherwise dissatisfied with the outcome of the consideration of their request, and where the issue cannot be resolved informally in discussion with PALS.

If the Trust had not established this complaints procedure, the complainant could contact the Information Commissioner directly.

Complaints to the Information Commissioner
A complainant is entitled to contact the Information Commissioner once the Trust’s FOIA Complaints Procedure has been exhausted.

If a person makes a complaint in respect of the Publication Scheme the Information Commissioner may investigate the matter at his/her discretion, but will not make a decision under Section 50 of the Act as described below.

If a person makes a complaint in respect of a request under the Act’s ‘general right of access’, the Information Commissioner will consider the application under Section 50 of the Act. Where the Information Commissioner receives such a complaint, he/she could:

• Notify the complainant that he/she has not made any decision and of his/her grounds for not doing so eg undue delay in making the complaint, frivolous or vexatious complaints.
• Issue the Trust with a ‘decision notice’ which specifies the steps which must be taken by the Trust to comply with the requirement (including the timescale for completion).

There is a right of appeal regarding the Information Commissioner’s decision.

Standard documentation
When communicating any decision made in relation to a request under the FOIA’s ‘general right of access’, public authorities are obliged to notify the applicant of their rights of complaint.

The Trust has ensured that this information is included on all standard documentation regarding FOIA information requests.

Recognising a complaint
Any written correspondence from the applicant (including email) should be treated as a complaint if:

• The applicant perceives that the Trust is not complying with its Publication Scheme.
• The applicant is expressing dissatisfaction with the Trust’s response to a valid request for information.

Even if the applicant does not express a desire for the Trust to review its decision or the handling of his/her application, the correspondence should be dealt with in accordance with this complaints procedure.

Who should deal with the complaint?
If the applicant telephones with his/her complaint, this complaints procedure can be explained to him/her and he/she can choose whether to make the complaint formal by writing to the Chief Executive, otherwise PALS will informally try to resolve the query or pass the applicant’s details to the appropriate person to deal with it.

All formal complaints should be in writing and addressed to the Chief Executive. However, a complaint could be received by any member of staff and must be recognised as such. When a complaint is received by the Chief Executive’s office, it will be passed to the Complaints Co-ordinator for action. Where appropriate, the appropriate Director, or Chief Executive, and/or members of the IG Group will be consulted with in an attempt to resolve the issue. The Chief Executive will sign the letter explaining the outcome of the complaint to the applicant.

Procedure for handling complaints
In line with the Trust’s overarching Complaints Policy, the following procedures must be followed on receipt of a formal complaint, (N.B. the complaint should be made within 6 months of the decision to provide/deny access to the information requested):

• The complaint will be recorded and dealt with in accordance with the Trust’s complaints procedures, by the Complaints Co-ordinator
• The Complaints Co-ordinator will inform that the complaint has been received.
• The Information Governance Manager will enter the details of the complaint on the FOI Requests Database.

Where the outcome of a complaint is that information should be disclosed which was previously withheld, the information in question should be disclosed as soon as practicable and the applicant should be informed how soon this will be.

Where the outcome of a complaint is that the procedures within the Trust have not been properly followed, the Trust will apologise to the complainant. The Information Governance Manager will ensure that whoever did not comply with the procedures is made aware of the complaint and its outcome.

Where the outcome of a complaint is that an initial decision to withhold information is upheld, or is otherwise in the Trust’s favour, the complainant should be informed of his/her right to apply to the Information Commissioner (see ‘Complaints to the Information Commissioner’ section above) and be given details of how to make an application. See overleaf for procedural diagram.

After a complaint is resolved
If the complainant is dissatisfied with the Trust’s response, he/she has 4 weeks from the date the response was received to reply to the Trust detailing why he/she is still dissatisfied.

The Trust will regularly publish information on its website regarding how successful it has been in meeting its complaints deadlines.

A record will be kept of all complaints and their outcomes on the Freedom of Information Requests Database.

This information may be reviewed by the Information Governance Manager to ascertain if information request procedures need to be revised to prevent similar complaints occurring in the future.