Freedom of Information Request

Freedom of information (FOI) gives you the right to ask any public sector organisation for information they hold. Anyone can ask for information. You can also ask for information about yourself under data protection legislation.

Organisations you can ask for information from

You can ask for information from publicly funded organisations that work for the welfare of the whole population, such as:

• Government departments.
• Local councils.
• Schools, colleges and universities.
• Health trusts, hospitals and doctors’ surgeries.
• Publicly-funded museums.
• The police.
• Non-departmental public bodies, committees and advisory bodies.

Making a FOI request

Although General Practice Solutions is not a directly publicly-funded organisation, we do perform advisory roles for bodies that are funded by the public purse. We will therefore consider all Freedom of Information requests.

You can contact us directly by letter or email to make a freedom of information request. When making your request, you should include:

• Your name.
• An address where you can be contacted.
• A detailed description of the recorded information you would like.
• The format you want the information in.

Please direct all freedom of Information requests to:
enquiries@generalpracticesolutions.net

Alternatively, you can write to us at:
General Practice Solutions
71-75 Shelton Street
London
WC2 9JQ

You can ask for the information in several different formats. This could be paper or electronic copies of any original documents, or other formats like large print, audio format or Braille.

Depending on the nature of your request, you can ask for all the information or just a summary.

If you plan to reproduce the information you receive, please make sure you check the copyright status of it first.
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Most requests are free, but you might be asked to pay a small amount for photocopies or postage. We will inform you if you need to pay anything.

You should receive the information within 20 working days. If we need more time, we will contact you and tell you when you can expect the information.

If your request is turned down

Some sensitive information might not be available to members of the public. If this is the case, we will tell you why we have withheld some or all the information you requested.

We can also turn down your request if we think it will cost more than £450.00 (£600.00 for a central government organisation) to deal with your request.

We might then ask you to be more specific so we can give you the information you’re looking for.

The information commissioner's office (ICO)

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) can help you understand what freedom of information and related issues mean to you. It can advise you on how to protect your personal information and how to gain access to official records.

If you think we have failed to abide by the legislation the ICO regulates, you may be able to get help. You can find out how to make a complaint and more on the ICO website.