The implementation of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
All briefing and correspondence between officials and ministers and all fourteen health boards (including emails, attachments, typed or handwritten notes, letters, records of phone calls, minutes of meetings, briefings, WhatsApp messages or otherwise) relating to the implementation of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019, from the period between 7 June 2021 and 7 June 2022.
Response
The implementation of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 was suspended as one of a number of actions to free resources to tackle the rise of the Covid 19 pandemic. The then Cabinet Secretary wrote on 26 January 2021 to all Health Boards asking them to continue to work within the spirit of the 2019 Act. You may be aware of the announcement recently made by the Cabinet Secretary of the recommencement of the work towards implementation and the publication of a proposed timetable for enactment.
This announcement and the timetable can be found on the Scottish Government website at the following links:-
I enclose a copy the information you requested, of all briefing and correspondence between Scottish Government officials and NHS Scotland Territorial Boards regarding Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act specific matters by both parties - these details were also published on the Scottish Government's website.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance certain information has been redacted under section s.38(1)(b) (personal information) exemption of FOISA.
An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. names of individuals, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.
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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