GIDS: Any Restrictions/Controls by HR on GIDS Staff Public Comments (2016-24)
Reference: 25-26358
Date response sent: 09/12/2025
Details of enquiry
I am writing today with a request under the Freedom of Information Act for certain communications between the HR department to the employees of the Gender Identity Development Service, in the time period from 2016 through the present, relating to policy about communication with the public. I am interested in any documents that reflect attempts to control what GIDS staff, particularly clinicians and other medical professionals, could say publicly, and any restrictions placed on these people.
Response sent
I am writing today with a request under the Freedom of Information Act for certain communications between the HR department to the employees of the Gender Identity Development Service, in the time period from 2016 through the present, relating to policy about communication with the public. I am interested in any documents that reflect attempts to control what GIDS staff, particularly clinicians and other medical professionals, could say publicly, and any restrictions placed on these people
The Trust neither confirms nor denies that this data is held. The GIDS service closed on 31st March 2024 and its staff no longer work at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. There has also been staff turnover in both the People team (formerly known as HR Department), and in the Trust’s Communication Team, so any anecdotal corporate memory is not available to us..
Having searched the shared drives of both the HR Department and the (now closed) GIDS service we have not located any communication to GIDS staff which – as you state “attempts to control dialogue on speaking publicly about GIDS”. We have also asked our Communications Department to locate any such communication/s distributed via a global message to all staff. This too returned nil results.
We have not searched the personal files of former members of the GIDS staff for this documentation, as the content of staff personal files is exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act.
Section 40(2), of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 applies to the personal information of a third party, where complying with the request would contravene the UK General Protection Regulations or the Data Protection Act 2018.. Section 40 is an absolute exemption with no right of appeal within the Trust and does not require the Trust to carry out the public interest test.
Given the above explanations, the Trust must advise you that, despite our best endeavours, and having conducted many searches we have been unable to locate any documentation, or any evidence of any documentation corresponding to the description given in your request for the period of time from 2016 to GIDS closure date at the end March 2024.
In order to be helpful to you, we have attached related documents which may be of interest to you:
- Historic versions of the staff disciplinary procedures in place during the period in question.
a. the staff disciplinary procedure 2019-21. We would draw your attention to the Public Statements section towards the bottom of page 22 of 26. This is attached as “att1 25-26358 Disc Pol19-24 2GIDS HR Restrictns Controls on PublicComments”
b. the staff disciplinary procedure 2016-21. We would draw your attention to the Public Statements section at the top of page 17 of 26. This is attached as “att2 25-26358 Disc Pol16-21 2GIDS HR Restrictns Controls on PublicComments”
c. the staff disciplinary procedure 2015-19. We would draw your attention to the Standards of Conduct section 2.4 on page 14 of 16. This is attached as “att3 25-26358 Disc Pol16-21 2GIDS HR Restrictns Controls on PublicComments”
2. Contracts of Employment: Confidentiality and Mandatory Disclosure
NHS staff contracts have always included clauses on confidentiality of information. We have attached an example whereby this is stated in Section 14 Confidentiality and Mandatory Disclosure. We would draw your attention to clause 14.2. This is attached as “att4 25-26358 EmployContract GIDS HR Restrictns Controls on PublicComments”