NHS Scotland Partnership Information Network (PIN) policy compliance: FOI Review

Information requested

Original request (202300386463)

Can you confirm by foi that NHSGGC trust have ensured to the Scottish government comply with the minimum standards that are set out in the Scottish Government Redeployment: NHSScotland PIN policy Published on 15 December 2014.

In particular does the Trust has ensured that all the points below are complied with,

2.2 Principles and Values

2.2.1 All NHSScotland Boards must have a policy in place which ensures that displaced employees are dealt with in a non-discriminatory, fair and consistent manner, with regard to exploration of suitable alternative employment opportunities.

2.2.2 In order to achieve this, the following principles and values apply:

Suitable alternative employment opportunities will be sought for all displaced employees;There will be no unreasonable delay in commencing this process; No vacancy will be opened to applications externally or from within the wider internal workforce until it is established that it does not present a suitable alternative role for a displaced employee. However, it should be noted that the purpose of redeployment is to preserve employment. As such, exploration of suitable alternative employment opportunities will ordinarily only involve posts at the same or lower pay band/grade as the post from which the affected employee was displaced. An exception to this may occur where an employee is disabled under the Equality Act 2010[5] and is displaced from their original post due to their disability. In such circumstances, consideration of higher banded posts may amount to a reasonable adjustment (see section 2.4.6 of this PIN). Consideration should also be given to local Organisational Change policies and procedures including protection;

2.3.4 Managers recruiting to a vacancy will:

Ensure that they are fully aware of and comply with their responsibilities under the local policy, including ensuring that displaced employees matched to such a vacancy are considered objectively and without prejudice and not unreasonably refused appointment, and that any concerns/issues arising during any subsequent trial period are raised as soon as possible in order to enable early discussion and with a view to potential resolution; and,Ensure that they seek advice from HR (redeployment coordinator (or locally determined alternative)) where necessary and appropriate when dealing with redeployment issues.

Furthermore can you confirm the PIN Quoted above is still in force and the minimum values that the NHSGGC Trust and other trusts should comply with.

Please forward all policies that confirm the above and any correspondence between yourselves and the NHSGGC Trust, NHS Scotland ensuring compliance.

Should you need clarification please contact me at your earliest convenience.

Response

I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) which sought the following information:

Can you confirm by foi that NHSGGC trust have ensured to the Scottish government comply with the minimum standards that are set out in the Scottish Government Redeployment: NHS Scotland PIN policy Published on 15 December 2014.

In particular does the Trust has ensured that all the points below are complied with, 

2.2 Principles and Values

2.2.1 All NHS Scotland Boards must have a policy in place which ensures that displaced employees are dealt with in a non-discriminatory, fair and consistent manner, with regard to exploration of suitable alternative
employment opportunities.

2.2.2 In order to achieve this, the following principles and values apply:

Suitable alternative employment opportunities will be sought for all displaced employees; There will be no unreasonable delay in commencing this process; No vacancy will be opened to applications externally or from within the wider internal workforce until it is established that it does not present a suitable alternative role for a displaced
employee.

However, it should be noted that the purpose of redeployment is to preserve employment. As such, exploration of suitable alternative employment opportunities will ordinarily only involve posts at the same or lower pay band/grade as the post from which the affected employee was displaced. An exception to this may occur where an employee is disabled under the Equality Act 2010[5] and is displaced from their original post due to their disability. In such circumstances, consideration of higher banded posts may amount to a reasonable adjustment (see section 2.4.6 of this PIN).

Consideration should also be given to local Organisational Change policies and procedures including protection;

2.3.4 Managers recruiting to a vacancy will:

Ensure that they are fully aware of and comply with their responsibilities under the local policy, including ensuring that displaced employees matched to such a vacancy are considered objectively and without prejudice and not unreasonably refused appointment, and that any concerns/issues arising during any subsequent trial period are raised as soon as possible in order to enable early discussion and with a view to potential resolution; and, Ensure that they seek advice from HR (redeployment coordinator (or locally determined alternative)) where necessary and appropriate when dealing with redeployment issues.

Furthermore can you confirm the PIN Quoted above is still in force and the minimum values that the NHSGGC Trust and other trusts should comply with.

Please forward all policies that confirm the above and any correspondence between yourselves and the NHSGGC Trust, NHS Scotland ensuring compliance.

I have concluded that the original decision should be confirmed with modifications as follows:

• I have concluded that some of the redactions made to the document titled 'Staff Governance Standard Monitoring 2015-16 - Response - NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde' were made in error. Please accept my apologies for this. A revised version of this document has been included with this response.
• I have taken steps to clarify the reasons for those redactions which have been made to the documents titled 'Staff Governance Standard Monitoring 2015-16 - Response - NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde' and 'SGM-NHS GGC SGMR Feedback Letter 2015-16'. Several redactions to these documents have been made on account of the fact that the information in question constitutes personal data, the disclosure of which would contravene data protection principles. This information has been withheld under section 38(1) of FOISA. 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. Other redactions have been made on account of the fact that certain information contained in the documents falls outwith the scope of your original request.
• I have established that the document titled 'PIN Policy Implementation May 2015 NHSGGC Redacted' was issued in error on the basis that the information contained in that document does not pertain to the particular version of the NHS Scotland Redeployment PIN Policy to which you refer in your initial request.
• I have identified a further document titled 'PIN Compliance - NHS GGC' which contains certain information which falls within the scope of your initial request and so should have been released. Please accept my apologies for its omission. Where redactions have been made to this document, these are on the basis that the redacted information falls outwith the scope of your initial request.

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 202300390905 - Information Released - Documents

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