FOI220587: Recruitment of staff from overseas

Released 1 December 2022

Request:

How much has this trust spent on overseas recruitment (including all recruitment related activities, overseas recruitment trips, agency fees, staff salaries of overseas recruits of all occupations – such as nurses, doctors, admin staff etc – including costs of relocation, flights etc) from 1st January 2017 – the present (31st October 2022)?

If possible please break this down by year and by cost type (examples given above).

Assistance provided under section 16 [duty to assist] on 7 November 2022:

1. On the basis that your request will require considerable staff time to research and compile, can you please confirm if you require information for all three Trusts (i.e. both legacy Trusts and University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust) where appropriate over the periods relevant to your request? This may have a bearing on the amount of information we are able to provide within the ‘appropriate limit’ governed by section 12 provision [cost limit] of the FOIA.
2. Where overseas recruitment is only part of a staff role, how would you like the salaries associated with these roles reflected in the information we provide?
3. When you ask for the “staff salaries of overseas recruits of all occupations”, can you please clarify the nature of information you are requesting? Are you asking for the salaries associated with the staff that are recruited from overseas, and if so, are you asking for these salaries to be included in the total spend each year from the point they began working for the Trust?
4. Are you happy for us to provide our information by financial year due to the date of the merger (see above)? 

Response received 8 November 2022:

1. Yes I require all three trusts and in anticipation of your potential use of a section 12 exemption I wish to make clear that I will appeal this on public interest grounds especially in the context of my role as a reporter for a national newspaper. 
2. I think this is best determined by the trust. But by salaries I mostly meant those of the international recruits. 
3. Yes please include the salaries of those recruited from overseas from the point they began working for the trust. 
4. Yes that is fine

Information disclosed:

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust has been in operation since 1 April 2021, following the merger of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust and Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Since you have requested information for periods of time both before and after the merger, we have provided our information broken down by each legacy Trust and University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust where applicable. Information about the Trust’s hospitals

Please note – the figures provided below do not include the salaries of staff that these Trusts recruited internationally. University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust does not hold this information centrally.  Section 12 provision [cost limit] of the FOIA is applicable.

Additionally, the Trust is not required under the terms of the Act to create ‘new’ information for the purpose of answering a FOI request. According to guidance issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office, where the provision of information will require complex analysis and a high level of skill and judgement to produce, this would amount to creating information not already held. An initial assessment of the work involved in providing this additional information concluded that it meets the criteria of information ‘not held’ under this guidance.

Please refer to the table below for expenditure related to the recruitment of staff from overseas by financial year where relevant to legacy Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust (BSUH).

Please refer to the table below for expenditure related to the recruitment of staff from overseas by financial year where relevant to legacy Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WSHT).

Please refer to the table below for expenditure related to the recruitment of staff from overseas by financial year where relevant to University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (UHSussex).