Hlth52 Advice on the proposed Legislative Competence Order on presumed consent for organ donation

22 February 2011

Dear

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION – REFERENCE 4833

Thank you for your request which was received by the Welsh Assembly Government on 26 January 2011. You asked for:

- Information in relation to the proposal for a Legislative Competence Order on presumed consent for organ donation, namely:

1.   Copies of all documented advice received by the Health Minister from her officials and those of other Assembly Government departments.
2.   Copies of all correspondence sent and received by the Health Minister to and from UK Government Ministers, including the office of the Attorney General.
3.   Copies of all the correspondence sent and received by the Counsel General for Wales to and from UK Government Ministers, including the office of the Attorney General.

Please let me know if this is not an accurate description of the information you have requested.

As your request is presently framed, I believe it would be very time consuming to deal with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI Act) and will cost more than the appropriate limit established in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 to consider your request.  The regulations therefore allow me to refuse to deal with it.  The appropriate limit specified for central government is £600.  When calculating whether or not your request exceeds the appropriate limit, I am allowed to consider the time it is likely to take to establish if we hold the information, locate the information, retrieve the information and extract it.  If these tasks are estimated to take more than 24 hours of working time, the appropriate limit is exceeded.

Whilst points 2 and 3 of your request are specific, point 1 is extremely wide and would include almost every document put to the Health Minister by her officials from the commencement of the proposal to develop organ donation legislation including documents such as briefing and advice submissions, briefing papers, replies to all correspondence received, statements, policy and legal instructions and the proposed LCO and accompanying draft Explanatory Memorandum itself.  There is also no specific time period for your request.

The number of officials involved has been identified as some 20 or more.  It is not possible to estimate precisely how long it would take each person involved to undertake the work that would be required, but given the volume of information and the length of the period of time involved, I can be certain that it would take on average considerably more than 2 hours of each person’s time.  Having regard to this position, it is my assessment that the time it would take to establish if we hold the information, locate the information, retrieve the information and extract the information you have requested is likely to exceed the appropriate limit.  To that end, I have decided that your request is exempt under section 12 of the FOI Act – exemption where cost of compliance exceeds the appropriate limit.

It is possible that your request would come within the appropriate limit if you are able to focus it on a specific aspect of the proposal for a Legislative Competence Order on presumed consent for organ donation, or a particular element of the legislative process of the LCO or on a very specific time scale.  Such a revised request will be treated as a new and separate request.

If you believe that I have not followed the relevant laws, or you are unhappy with this response, you may request an internal review by writing to:

Mrs Sharon Linnard
Director
Strategic Financial Delivery and Business Opportunities
Health & Social Services Directorate General
Welsh Assembly Government
Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NQ

When dealing with any concerns, we will follow the principles set out in the Assembly Government’s Code of Practice on Complaints which is available on the Internet at www.wales.gov.uk or by post.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner. Normally, however, you should provide us with an opportunity to undertake an internal review before you complain to the Information Commissioner.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Also, if you think that there has been maladministration in dealing with your request then you may make a complaint to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales who can be contacted at:

Public Services Ombudsman for Wales
Ffordd yr Hen Gae
Pencoed
Bridgend
CF35 5LJ

Yours sincerely

MRS LE SUMMERS
Policy & Legislation Coordinator
Health & Social Services Directorate General