NHS Fife slammed by watchdog for 'poor handling' of trans row tribunal cost questions
NHS Fife failed to comply with Freedom of Information laws over its handling of questions about how much the trans row employment tribunal has cost.
Scottish Information Commissioner David Hamilton criticised the health board for failing to do any proper checks to find the information requested by several publishers, including The Courier.
He told NHS Fife he was 'frustrated' by its 'poor handling' of the requests and said this had led to an 'unnecessary delay'.
We previously reported the health board was keeping the cost of the highly controversial tribunal secret.
The employment tribunal was brought by Kirkcaldy nurse Sandie Peggie, suspended after a changing room row with trans doctor Beth Upton.
The Courier later revealed NHS Fife was not paying the full cost in its defence against claims of discrimination by Ms Peggie.
Instead, it is only covering 'part' of the legal fees, with the rest being covered by a national risk scheme designed to protect health boards from losses.
Mr Hamilton, responsible for enforcing FOI legislation in Scotland, ruled it was 'unhelpful' of NHS Fife not to make this clear when initial Freedom of Information (FOI) requests asking for the cost were made.
The health board admits it was an 'oversight' not to have provided this information.
NHS Fife later obtained more details about the cost of the tribunal from National Services Scotland's central legal office.
But Mr Hamilton did not rule on the disclosure of the total cost because it was provided to the health board by the central legal office after the initial FOI requests.
He wrote: 'The fact that the authority provided the information it obtained as the withheld information in this case does not mean that the authority did not hold information relevant to the applicants' requests when they were received.
'The authority should have undertaken adequate and proportionate searches to ascertain what information it held relevant to the requests when they were received.
'However, the authority does not appear to have undertaken any searches in response to the applicants' requests.'
He added: 'The commissioner is frustrated that the authority's poor handling of these requests has placed him in a position where he is effectively limited to requiring it to carry out adequate, proportionate searches for the information requested.
'This unnecessary delay hampers the applicants with their information rights, and reflects poorly on the authority.'
NHS Fife initially claimed it could not provide the full cost of the tribunal because this would disclose personal information.
The information commissioner disagreed.
'The Commissioner cannot accept that the specific information requested can be the personal data of either of the individuals party to the tribunal,' he wrote.
'The costs are the authority's, not theirs.'
The ruling will be seen as a win for gender critical campaigners who slammed NHS Fife for its secrecy over the cost of the tribunal.
Maya Forstater, CEO of charity Sex Matters, said the health board was trying to 'escape public scrutiny'.
'This is the latest episode of a disgraceful saga,' she told The Courier.
NHS Fife was contacted for comment.
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