For the months of July to September of this year, please state the number of copies of draft decisions that you shared. Specify the number shared in writing, and the number shared by each of the other five options described (in the investigation manual).
For the months of July to September of this year, please specify the number of copies of draft decisions that your shared which comprised:
a. all of the draft decision
b. part of the draft decision.
Having regard to your first query I should highlight that while on most occasions investigation staff will record when a draft report is shared by checking an indicator within our electronic filing system (VisualFiles), on some occasions this action may not be taken. While it is not possible to provide you with the number of times this has not happened, I can tell you that we have recorded sharing of draft reports by checking that indicator the following number of times:
- July – 197
- August – 152
- September – 201
- Total - 550
However, there is no indicator that can be marked for the way a draft report is shared. In order to identify this information each of the 550 records would have to be manually reviewed. In the same way, there is no indicator to identify whether a full or partial draft decision was shared in relation to your second query, and again, this would require the manual review of all 550 draft reports.
While I appreciate your efforts to specify your request narrowly, I do not believe that these tasks could be undertaken in less than 18 hours. Accordingly, I am unable to provide you with any information on the subject in accordance with section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
However, should you be interested in pursuing your request, I would be happy to assist you in making a request for information that would not exceed the time limits provided by the FOIA.
I hope you find this information helpful.
FOI/DP Officer
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman