FOI – 000269 Clinical medical waste shipped to England and Europe (HTML)

**Date received – 28 October 2022 | Date responded – 25 November 2022 **

Request

1. The total volume of clinical/medicalwaste shipped to England and Europe from Scotland between 2018 up and until todays date. DO HOLD, Sec17 Europe and current england.
2. The holding location for the above waste between 2018 up to and including 2022. DO HOLD, List of locations and disposal outlets. Sec15.
3. All communication details between the companies below with NSS, NHSS and Martin Bell between June 2018 and June 2021 all dates inclusive.

Martin Bell/Gordon Beattie/Wendy Rayner/Gordon James/Paul Hornby/Simon Mollart/Bronwyn Bainbridge/Jim Miller/Martin Street/Robert Seamark/Andrew Kinroy/Stevie Mclaughlin/Dave Taggart/Carolyn Low//805 mailbox/waste contingency mailbox

Sec17 – Jim Miller/Gordon James/Peter Mcconnell

• J. Mitchell Haulage (Grangemouth) Ltd.
• WH Malcolm (Linwood) Ltd.
• Northwards Logistics Ltd.
• Rentokil /Initial /plc
• Cannon Hygiene Ltd.
• PHS Washrooms Ltd.
• Caledonia Washrooms Ltd.
• MS Industrial Services Ltd.
• Stericycle Ltd.
• Tradebe Environmental Services Ltd.
• Veolia Environmental Services Ltd.
• Novus Environmental Ltd.
• Vetspeed Ltd.

Response

The total volume of clinical/medicalwaste shipped to England and Europe from Scotland between 2018 up and until today’s date.

Figure 1.

Clinical Waste Shipped Dates – Clinical/medical waste shipped to England/Wales (Tonnes) – Clinical/medical waste shipped to other European countries (excluding Scotland) (Tonnes)

• Dec 2018 Mar 2019 – 3,904 – 0
• Apr 2019 Mar 2020 – 3,388 – 0
• Apr 2020 Mar 2021 – 3,754 – 0
• Apr 2021 Oct 2022 – 3,616 – 0

The holding location for the above waste between 2018 up to and including 2022.

Waste holding locations as follows:

• Cliniwaste – Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Nottinghamshire and Shotts
• Denholm MacNamee – Raigmore Waste Transfer Station, NHS Highland
• Perfect Hygiene – Forresterhill East Transfer Station and NHS Grampian
• Rentokil – Coatbridge
• Tradebe – Wrexham, Swindon, Fawley, Redditch and Bellshill
• Veolia – Ellesmere Port, Tyseley
• Vetspeed/Novus Environmental - Livingston
• Viridor – Dunbar
• WH Malcolm Ltd – Linwood, Hurlford (near Kilmarnock) and South St. Glasgow

3. communication details between the companies below with NSS, NHSS and Martin Bell between June 2018 and June 2021 all dates inclusive

• J. Mitchell Haulage (Grangemouth) Ltd.
• WH Malcolm (Linwood) Ltd.
• Northwards Logistics Ltd.
• Rentokil /Initial /plc
• Cannon Hygiene Ltd.
• PHS Washrooms Ltd.
• Caledonia Washrooms Ltd.
• MS Industrial Services Ltd.
• Stericycle Ltd.
• Tradebe Environmental Services Ltd.
• Veolia Environmental Services Ltd.
• Novus Environmental Ltd.
• Vetspeed Ltd.

Section 13 (2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2022 - Fees for disclosure in certain circumstances - could have been applied to your request however Section (15) of the Freedom of Information Act 2022 - Duty to provide advice and assistance applies. On this basis although the request is very large due to the number of companies involved and the timeframe the information will be released in 2 stages. The first being today with the remaining information being released within a further 20 days from today. Due to the volume of the information requested, the detail will be released in the format of appendices as compressed files in 33 separate emails relating to each of the companies. In regards to the appendices some of them contain reference to more than one company and on that basis the appendices will only be released in one email relating to one of the companies referenced for example: email includes reference to J Mitchell Haulage and Rentokil it will appear only in the J Mitchell file release it will not appear in the Rentokil file release.

Some of the documentation being released includes personal data of third parties, specifically, names of individuals which have not been released into the public domain on any previous FOIs or literature regarding this topic. Where this is the case, these names and contact details have been redacted in line with exception Section 38 ((1)(b)) of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act – Personal information.

Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act – Notice that information is not held - an organisation is not required to provide information if it does not hold that information. NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) does not hold information in relation to communications involving individuals no longer employed by NSS in that, we no longer have access to their individual email accounts – Jim Miller, Director of Procurement Commissioning & Facilities; Martin Street, Strategic Sourcing Director; Peter McConnell, Head of Strategic Sourcing & Commercial.

Under Section 33 (1) (b) of the Freedom of Information Act 2002 - an organisation does not require to provide information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the commercial interests of any person (including, without prejudice to that generality, a Scottish public authority) and as such any cost information is being withheld as it is commercially sensitive.

Where this information (invoicing and tonnage data January 2021 – June 2021) has been withheld as it relates to existing contractual arrangements. There will be a future tender exercise taking place within the next 12 months and on that basis the release of this information is likely to substantially prejudice the commercial interests of companies involved in that future tender exercise.

Under Section 36 (1) - Confidentiality - Information in respect of which a claim to confidentiality of communication could be maintained in legal proceeding is exempt information.

Where this information (invoicing and tonnage data from June 2018 – December 2020) has been withheld it relates to an ongoing legal case and on that basis, there is a greater public interest in withholding the information to ensure fairness in the court proceedings.

I trust you will find the information of assistance and if you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact us.

If you are unhappy with any aspect of how we have dealt with your request you can make representations to us asking us to review the handling of your request.

If you require any further information please contact Associate Director Information Security & Governance, within 40 working days of the date of this correspondence.

Contact

Email: nss.foi@nhs.scot

Address

NHS National Services Scotland Headquarters Gyle Square 1 South Gyle Crescent Edinburgh EH12 9EB

If after a review you are still unhappy, you also have the right to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner, who can be contacted at Kinburn Castle, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS, or via their application form.

National Services Scotland (NSS) is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. You can view all FOI responses within our FOI Publications repository.