Correspondence on funding of Disability Equipment: FOI release

Information requested

1. The correspondence between the Scottish Government officials and the Health Boards officials concerning:

• the funding of disability equipment in 2022
• the funding of support with energy costs for patients using life-saving equipment in 2022

2. information about:

i. the resources available for disability equipment in 2022

ii. the resources available for the support with energy costs for patients using life-saving equipment in 2022

iii. the types of funding available for purchase of the disability equipment

iv. the types of funding available as support with energy costs (e.g. fuel costs) for the use of lifesaving equipment, as provided to the Health Boards

v. the amounts available per patient for all the types of support in the above mentioned cases, as provided to the Health Boards

vi. the criteria of eligibility for support in the above mentioned cases, as provided to the Health Boards

vii. the kinds of disabilities equipment for which the resources are available

viii. schemes under which the resources may be used by the Health Boards to support the patients

ix. the share of the resources allocated to each Health Board

Response

Parts 1

I have enclosed the information you have requested. In this instance we are unable to provide a small amount of the information you have requested because an exemption under Section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. The reason why this exemption applies is explained in the Annex to this letter.

Part 2 - i, iii, viii and ix

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in relation to Parts 2.i, iii., viii. and ix., in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. The reason for this is that to locate and retrieve that information we would need to conduct a search of all of the records of the Scottish Government. Under Section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. For example, you could specify the subject matter(s) you are interested in or restrict your request to a specific business area of the Scottish Government, this would allow us to limit the searches that would require to be conducted. You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner's 'Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs' on his website at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx.

Parts 2. ii and iv-vii

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested in relation to Parts 2. ii and iv – vii. The reasons why we don't have the information are explained below in the Annex to this letter. However, you may wish to contact NHS Scotland Health Boards locally who may be able to help you.

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.

FOI - 202300339463 - Annex A

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1 page PDF

File size

92.9 kB

FOI - 202300339463 - Documents 1-7

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16 page PDF

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877.6 kB