Correspondence from nurses to Nicola Sturgeon on various topics: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
You asked for any correspondence (letters, emails or otherwise) dated from 1 September - 1 December 2018 from nurses to Nicola Sturgeon on any of the following topics: excessive workload, staff cuts, Scottish Government funding, poor workforce planning, or job satisfaction.
Response
You have previously made this same request for a broader timescale and been advised that the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, NHS Scotland's health boards are among the largest employers in Scotland and many of their employees write to the First Minister every year.
Details of which correspondents are nurses are not held by the Scottish Government as we are neither the direct employer nor the regulator of the profession.
In an effort to be helpful we have examined only where a correspondent has clearly self-identified as a nurse - although we should observe that we have no way of verifying that this is the case. In this instance we are unable to provide some of the information identified in relation to your request because an exemption(s) under section(s) s.38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why that exemption(s) applies are explained in the Annex to this letter.
ANNEX
REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION
An exemption applies
An exemption(s) under section(s) s.38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested, i.e. those sections of the correspondence which could lead directly or indirectly to identification of the writer or others mentioned in the correspondence.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
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