Hospital Complaint For Breach Of Equality Act 2010

bod1467

More ammunition for your next MP meeting.

Redx

I cannot see this being resolved until the ICO are reported through your MP, possibly the DVLA too, plus the EA2010 complaint going in to teach them a lesson over this contract issue and the failures on the car park relating to disabled people like your poorly wife

obviously we now await the BPA response, plus any others you are awaiting


good luck

ManxRed

Astonishing.

Fergie76

This is really frustrating. I am so p!ssed off right now. It's no wonder big corporations think they can do what they want, when the organisations that are there to protect Joe Public refuse to do so.

It really is no wonder folk just give up!

Herzlos

Don't give up, things are just about to start getting interesting if you can catch the ICO out for covering stuff up too. Your MP will be able to take things further than you can.

I wonder if there's any grounds to take legal action on the ICO too for their part in it?

bazster

I had a similar response from the ICO recently. They basically said that DVLA were in their good books and they had no intention of investigating the matter I had raised (a small matter of a PPC obtaining keeper details whilst not an ATA member)

Fergie76

So earlier today, I had a response from the ICO, I only pasted half of it, so here it is in full, plus my reply.

As always, any constructive comments are welcome.

[FONT=&quot]Thank you for your email of 20 February 2015. I understand that you are unhappy with my response. You are of course entitled to your view, and also entitled to pursue any legal avenues you feel are appropriate.

Under section 42 of the DPA the Commissioner is required to make an assessment and advise you of the outcome of that assessment, which we have done and therefore fulfilled our statutory obligation.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/29/section/42

As I have advised previously the ICO will not be pursuing the matter of DVLA disclosing your personal data any further. A section 10 breach has been recorded against the Trust for its failure to respond within the appropriate timescale.

I can write to the Trust regarding the two letters of April 2011 and July 2014, and the agreement dated 1 January 2014. I note that although you refer to these documents in your letter to Mr McVittie of 22 December 2014, it is not clear if you have actually requested them under the FOIA. If so, can you please provide a copy of any request and response. If not then I'm afraid I cannot proceed with that part of your complaint.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Thank you for your reply today. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I obviously disagree with your assessment due to the fact in that it is fundamentally flawed, in that these two letters, cannot and do not over-ride a legally binding contract for reasons already explained. Can you please explain your reasoning for your decision? Also, can you please provide under the Freedom of Information Act, all related documents and evidence that you have used to reach your decision?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I will also be following the ICO complaints procedure and then raising the issue with my MP to raise an Ombudsman complaint.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Regarding the Trust FOI’s, I can see how you might be confused as to if I requested them under the FOIA, if like me you don’t consider them to be part of the contract. However, as you have deemed they are part of the contract, I fail to see how you missed it in my letter dated 22 Dec 14:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I have received a copy of two letters from the DVLA that APCOA have supplied to them dated 26 Apr 11 and 7 Jul 14. The letter dated 7 Jul 14, references an agreement dated 1 Jan 14, which is valid for 3 years from 1 Jan 14 to 31 Dec 17 (you will notice that this is in fact 4 years not 3). This appears to be an amendment to the contract and you have not supplied a copy of it or any other letters. Therefore as I requested in FOI 309-14, can you supply fully unredacted copies of all documents relating to the contract and amendments to the contract with APCOA FACILITIES MANAGEMENT (HARROW) LIMITED, company number: 03481526 and APCOA Parking (UK) Limited, company number: 02572947? [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]There Trust’s response was:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]• The “agreement” referred to in the letter dated 7th July 2014 does not exist; this is an error on the part of the Trust and all parties will be informed accordingly. All documents relating to the contract with APCOA Facilities Management (Harrow) Ltd have been provided and no contract exists with APCOA Parking (UK) Ltd[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Please note, the Trust categorically states, which flies in the face of your assessment that ‘NO CONTRACT EXISTS WITH APCOA Parking (UK) Ltd’.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The Trust has also failed to respond to this FOI request:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]What due diligence has the Trust conducted on this GPEOL? Can you please supply under the FOI Act full unredacted copies of all correspondence between the Trust, APCOA and the Trust’s Solicitor’s where the GPEOL has been discussed?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Given the numerous breaches of the FOIA by the Trust, what censures or disciplinary action has the ICO taken?[/FONT]

bod1467

Are the ICO subject to FOIA requests?

There Trusts's response was:

Fergie76

Public body, so I don't see why not?

Fergie76

So I have had a reply, back from the BPA, which contains, no surprises:

Following my e mail to you I am now in a position to reply.
The three items that you required a reply to you are:-

1. The FMG (Harrow) Ltd/APCOA Facilities Management (Harrow) Ltd NHS contract question
2. Blue badge authority
3. Terms and conditions on certain signs

Please find attached a redacted letter from APCOA detailing the response to your questions.
In brief:-

1. It explains an error by London North West healthcare trust with regard to the agreement dated 1st January 2014.

A redacted letter from the trust is attached as well as the explanation in the redacted APCOA letter itself.

It should be noted here that we are not legally qualified to intervene in these matters.

2. The disabled bay situation is fully explained in the letter and it should be noted that the signs clearly indicate disabled motorists need to park in disabled bays.

APCOA have reviewed any PCN’s applicable in this case and cancelled them.

On this subject also it should be noted the relevant clause 16.5 is up for review in the near future.

3. The signage issues have been rectified once APCOA were aware of the situation.

The other items have all been answered and I will not be going over those again.

I consider after discussing this with my Head of Operational Services that there is no case for APCOA to answer as regards breaching compliance.

This is because the areas that were problematic have been rectified, and although not ideal, APCOA did act.

I consider that I have replied fully to your questions and now consider the matter and case closed.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

The two letters that they have produced are in PDF format, that I can't C&P from at work. However, I have a PDF to Word converter at home, so I will post up the APCOA one tonight.

The hospital letter says:

we have noted an error in our letter dated 7th Jul which mentions an Agreement between oursleves and APCOA dated 1st Jan 14. There is no such Agreement in place and the appointment of APCOA Facilities Management (Harrow) Ltd is via a contract for Northwick Park Hospital site, dated November 1999 that runs for 40 years until 2039. With regard to Central Middlexsex and Ealing Hospitals, there is an interim arrangement in place for the management of car parking which is renewed on a month by month basis until further notice. These two sites are under review as part of our wider car park management strategy.

Please can you kindly ensure that the above is communicated as and when may be requested in relation to access to DVLA data and/or further legal action for recovery of unpaid Parking Charge Notices on our behalf.

So, what I can't understand is, if the ICO say they saw this letter, how they can possibly say APCOA Parking (UK) Ltd has any authority at this site.

Also the contract the Trust has sent me is dated 10 Feb 98 and not Nov 99, what a pickle...

The letter APCOA have sent to the BPA in relation to the above says:

1. The contract specifically states that FMG (Harrow) Ltd/ACPOA Facilities Management (Harrow) Ltd, cannot assign any interest in the agreement to a third party.

APCOA Facilities Managment (Harrow) Ltd is the party contracted to the Hospital to provide the Car Park Management service. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of APCOA Parking (UK) Ltd which company is also the guarantor under the lease of the Car Park between the Hospital and ACPOA Facilities Managment (Harrow) Ltd. For completeness, there is an intermediate owner; APCOA Facilities Management (UK) Ltd is the operating company within the group that deals with the administration of processing the Parking Charges Notices and so handles this process for and on behalf of its subsidiaries, including APCOA Facilities Management (UK) Ltd. The agreement with the Hospital does not allow assignment or subletting, but does not preclude it from using the services of a sister company in connection with the enforcement of Parking Charge Notices. APCOA Parking (UK) Ltd's only involvement is as the provider of those services to APCOA Facilities Management (Harrow) Ltd. Therefore we do not feel there has been any breach of the contract with the Hospital.

On the separate point relating to the confusion in regards the letters of authorisation issued by the trust, please find attached confirmation from the Trust that fully clarifies that the error made by the Trust was that it implied a 4 year term of contract assignement was in place