Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act - 7093
Thank you for your email dated 3 April 2017 requesting information regarding sexually transmitted diseases.
Please find detailed below your original request and our response.
Original Request:
1.) How many children (aged 15 and under) have attended services at your trust to get tested for sexually transmitted
diseases? Please provide the total number for each year – and in addition, break down by age (age band is adequate if the
numbers are small).
2.) Please provide the total number of STD tests that came back positive in children under 16 over the last five years – and
again, please break down by year, age, - as well as the type of STDs that were diagnosed.
3.) If this has not been made clear in the above response – what is the specific age of the youngest child to be diagnosed
with an STD over the last five years – and what was the STD?
4.) Within these figures, please also include the numbers of children who were found to have an STD when using hospital
services for other services.
5.) Please separately provide the total number of children under 16 who were a) tested b) diagnosed with HIV over the last
five years – with a breakdown of people and ages for each year. This includes children who were found to have HIV when
attending hospital for another matter.
There are a number of risks associated with the Trust releasing the data you have requested. These are:
•
Risk of deductive disclosure is high as the number of such patients is likely to be low;
•
Sensitivity of the information for the individual is high;
•
There is the expectation of confidentiality for individuals using the service;
•
Some cases may be part of active social service or police investigations of sexual abuse or assault.
Therefore this information is exempt by virtue of Section 40(2) in conjunction with Section 40(3)(a)(i) of the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 which relates to ‘Personal Information’ and Section 41 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which relates to ‘information
provided in confidence’.
Excerpts of the relevant Freedom of Information legislation can be found below:
Section 40 – Personal information
(2) Any information to which a request for information relates is exempt information
if—
(a) it constitutes personal data which do not fall within subsection (1), and
(b) either the first or the second condition below is satisfied.
(3) The first condition is—
(a) in a case where the information falls within any of paragraphs (a) to (d) of the
definition of “data” in section 1(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998, that the disclosure
of the information to a member of the public otherwise than under this Act would
contravene —
(i) any of the data protection principles
Section 41 — Information provided in confidence
(1) Information is exempt information if —
(a) it was obtained by the public authority from any other person (including another
public authority), and,
(b) the disclosure of the information to the public (otherwise than under this Act) by
the public authority holding it would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by
that or any other person.
Information on sexually transmitted infections (STI) diagnoses and sexual health services provided in England by demographic
characteristics and geographical region is readily available from Public Health England and can be accessed via their website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/sexually-transmitted-infections-stis-annual-data-tables. Therefore Public Health England
would be better placed to provide you with information you have requested. They can be contacted via [email protected].
Chairman David Griffiths
Chief Executive Paul Bentley
Trust HQ The Oast, Unit D, Hermitage Court, Hermitage Lane,
Barming, Nr Maidstone, Kent ME16 9NT
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