The Scottish Information Commissioner has escalated his intervention to bring improvements in the FOI performance of NHS Forth Valley.
The intervention, which was previously being undertaken at Level 1 of the Commissioner's Intervention Strategy, has now been escalated to Level 3. Level 3 interventions are undertaken to address serious and systemic FOI failures in Scottish public bodies.
The decision to escalate the intervention was made in response to data which showed that insufficient improvement in FOI on-time performance had been achieved since the intervention was launched in November 2023. Data shows that the authority responded to only 37% of requests within statutory FOI timescales across 2023-24. The latest data supplied by NHS Forth Valley for 2024-25 continues to show no significant signs of improvement.
The escalation to Level 3 means that NHS Forth Valley will be required to submit a detailed action plan to restore performance to an acceptable level.
Staff from the Commissioner's office will continue to work alongside NHS Forth Valley to provide support as it works towards putting in place measures to enable it to achieve the intervention performance target of 85% or more requests responded to within statutory timescales.
The Commissioner's letter, notifying NHS Forth Valley of the escalation of the intervention and requiring further information to progress the intervention, is published in full below.
The Commissioner's intervention letter to NHS Forth Valley
