Freedom of Information Officer

Choose Well - Choose WWL

Main area Data Protection / Information Governance / Subject Access Grade NHS AfC: Band 4 Contract 12 months (This vacancy is open to all internal candidates. NHS Employees should ideally secure their manager's agreement for a secondment arrangement ideally prior to applying, as this will be a condition of any offer made. This vacancy is advertised on a fixed term basis for 12 to provide cover for a substantive employee on secondment and will end in December 2026 or when the substantive postholder returns. Whilst this post is advertised on a fixed term / secondment basis there is the potential that this post may become permanent in the future.)

Hours

• Full time
• Part time
• Job share
• Flexible working

37.5 hours per week (Five days a week - Monday to Friday (no on call requirements).)

Job ref 302-25-CPR-B

Site Suite 9, Buckingham Row Town Wigan Salary £27,485 - £30,162 per annum, pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 03/03/:59

Job overview

Are you an organised, motivated and passionate about upholding transparency and accountability in the NHS?

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are seeking a dedicated Freedom of Information (FOI) Officer to join our dynamic Information Governance Team on a 12 month fixed term basis.

You'll play a key role in managing and coordinating Freedom of Information requests, ensuring the Trust meets its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Working closely with departments across the organisation, you'll support locating and reviewing information, applying relevant exemptions and prepare accurate, timely responses to applicants including members of the public, media and other sources.

We offer flexible working with a blend of office and home-based arrangements.

37.5 hours per week - Monday to Friday.

Please note that this vacancy may close early if a sufficient number of applications are received.

NHS Employees should ideally secure their manager's agreement for a secondment arrangement ideally prior to applying, as this will be a condition of any offer made. This vacancy is advertised on a fixed term basis for 12 to provide cover for a substantive employee on secondment and will end in December 2026 or when the substantive postholder returns. Whilst this post is advertised on a fixed term / secondment basis there is the potential that this post may become permanent in the future.

Main duties of the job

The main duties will include:

• Coordinate, monitor and respond to incoming FOI requests within statutory deadlines.
• Apply exemptions appropriately and assist in conducting public interest tests
• Liaise with internal teams to gather and validate information
• Maintain accurate records and contribute to performance reporting
• Support wider Information Governance initiatives including: transparency, records management and publication schemes
• Provide advice and guidance to staff on FOI processes and best practice.

Working for our organisation

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are the proud providers of acute hospital and community services to the people of the Wigan Borough and surrounding areas. At WWL, we value our staff believing that 'happy staff, makes for happy patients'. We have a recognised track record in staff engagement and living our values.

We are committed to placing the patient at the heart of everything we do, and in the provision of safe, effective care that acknowledges and ensures dignity. We are seeking to recruit people who share our values and beliefs.

• People at the Heart
• Listen and Involve
• Kind and Respectful

At WWL we value the benefits a rich and diverse workforce brings to our community and therefore welcome applications from all sections of society.

COVID-19 vaccination remains the best way to protect yourself, your family, your colleagues and of course our patients from the virus when working in our healthcare settings. Whilst COVID-19 vaccination is not a condition of employment, we do encourage our staff to get vaccinated. If you are unvaccinated there is helpful advice and information available by contacting where you can also ask about how to access vaccinations.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of various legislation such as the Data Protection Act but, more specifically the Freedom of Information Act and the Environmental Information Regulations, acting as a source of expertise and guidance to Trust staff within the organisation.
• Provide statistical information to the Information Governance Officer/Manager, to support ongoing monitoring of Trust compliance with core performance standards, using knowledge of statistical process control techniques.
• Produce monthly document control performance reports for executive review, ensuring that all information is timely and accurate, based on knowledge of key performance indicators around corporate governance.
• Maintain and update own knowledge of developments in Freedom of Information / Environmental Information Regulations and their related statutory instruments/policies.
• Assist the Information Governance Officer in administering the process of appeals against refusal of Freedom of Information and Environmental Information Regulation request decisions, maintaining a log of the issues actions taken.
• Analyses information provided by departments in order to provide responses to Freedom of Information queries
• Analyses trends of requests and provide those finding in report form.

For further information, please see attachments.

Person specification Additional

• Speak English to an appropriate standard relevant to the role, i.e. with confidence and accuracy, using correct sentence structures and vocabulary and without hesitation
• Flexible approach to work
• Hardworking
• Professional appearance / attitude
• Ability to remain calm under pressure
• Ability to travel independently to other locations within the Trust as required
• Ability to travel to other locations within the Trust
• Ability to handle difficult circumstances
• Full and clean UK Driving licence

Knowledge

• Knowledge of the NHS
• Knowledge of the Access to Health Records legislation
• Knowledge of the General Data Protection Regulations and the UK Data Protection Act
• Full knowledge of the Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations
• Commitment to CPD

Skills

• Ability to prioritise workload
• Able to communicate both written and verbally with all levels of staff
• Computer literate and knowledge of Microsoft Office
• Ability to deal sensitively with confidential information
• Excellent organisational skills
• Advanced keyboard skills
• Ability to use own initiative and work under direction
• Ability to work as part of a team
• Able to extract and analyse information from databases

Experience

• Experience of adhering to targets
• Relevant NHS experience of the Data Protection Act
• Experience of HIS, EPR and Patient Centre
• Ability to prioritise workloads to tight deadlines
• Demonstrate experience of using Microsoft Word / Excel spreadsheets
• Day to day management and supervisory experience
• Ability to use Microsoft Office Packages
• Awareness of organisational policies, procedures and guidelines
• Customer service focused experience

Qualifications

• 5 GCSE's level 4-9 / Grade A -C including Maths and English
• NVQ Level 3 in Business Administration or equivalent
• ECDL

Use of Artificial Intelligence in Job Applications
If you choose to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) or other automated tools to help draft your application, please ensure all content is personalised and an accurate reflection of your own skills, experience and professional judgement. AI may be useful for idea generation, grammar, or formatting, but it must not replace your own supporting statement or be relied on as the sole source of content.

Wrightington Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust does not advocate reliance on AI during applications and expects applications to be genuine and tailored to the role; over reliance on AI generated text may negatively affect your application.

For further information and best practice on using AI when applying for NHS roles, please refer to the attached "Applying for a role in the NHS guidance".

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Name Stephen Hand Job title Deputy Information Governance Manager Email address Telephone number Additional information

Please primarily contact via email.

If you have problems applying, contact

Address Buckingham Row
Brick Kiln Lane
Wigan
WN1 1XX
Telephone