FOI to DWP re any funding for legal fees for PACE trial

[Yogi]

More demonstration of the Streisand effect courtesy of the PACE authors.

John Slater who is a IT programme manage and FOI campaigner had submitted based on media reports:

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

The DWP part funded research by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), into ME/CFS (myalgic encaphalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome) study known as the “PACE trial”.

Results of the study were published by the Lancet (Volume 377, No. 9768, p823–836, 5 March 2011) and titled “Comparison of adaptive pacing therapy, cognitive behaviour therapy, graded exercise therapy, and specialist medical care for chronic fatigue syndrome (PACE): a randomised trial.”

Recent media articles have stated that QMUL QMUL spent £200,000 on legal costs fighting a Freedom of Information case trying to prevent the disclosure of study data.

RFI1: As the DWP part funded the study did it also provide any funding for the QMUL FOIA case that was attempting to prevent disclosure of the study data?

Yours faithfully,

John Slater

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/funding_for_queen_mary_universit#incoming-876720


https://mobile.twitter.com/amateurfoi

http://www.computerweekly.com/opini...y-search-for-the-truth-about-Universal-Credit

 

[Yogi]

DWP Central Freedom of Information Team
Annex A

e-mail: [email address].
gov.uk



Our Ref: FoI 3812




DATE: 31 October 2016
Annex A

Dear Mr Slater
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request of 3 October 2016. You asked:

The DWP part funded research by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), into ME/CFS
(myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome) study known as the “PACE trial”.

Results of the study were published by the Lancet (Volume 377, No. 9768, p823–836, 5 March
2011) and titled “Comparison of adaptive pacing therapy, cognitive behaviour therapy, graded
exercise therapy, and specialist medical care for chronic fatigue syndrome (PACE): a
randomised trial.”

Recent media articles have stated that QMUL QMUL spent £200,000 on legal costs fighting a
Freedom of Information case trying to prevent the disclosure of study data.

RFI1: As the DWP part funded the study did it also provide any funding for the QMUL FOIA
case that was attempting to prevent disclosure of the study data?



We are not aware of any DWP funding for the FOIA case.
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number
above.
Yours sincerely,



DWP Strategy FoI Team
----------------------------------------

 

[Keith Geraghty]

the more interesting question is whether or not the PACE lead author was a DWP funded advisor at the time of the PACE trial or at the time of application for the grant - and was this properly declared as a conflict of interest in the grant application and later.

As anyone done that question as an FOIR - I believe someone mentioned in before?

 

[Yogi]

the more interesting question is whether or not the PACE lead author was a DWP funded advisor at the time of the PACE trial or at the time of application for the grant - and was this properly declared as a conflict of interest in the grant application and later.

As anyone done that question as an FOIR - I believe someone mentioned in before?

Hi @Keith Geraghty

I recall you asked this previously but I forgot to respond.

Yes Peter White was an advisor on disability living allowance for the DWP during the PACE trial.


It would be good to ask exactly all the work he had done for the DWP.

MEDICAL SERVICES provided on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions


Training and Development: Continuing Medical Education Programme: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – Guidelines for the Disability Analyst Version 4; April 2009. Updated by Dr Peter Ellis. Version 1 written by Dr Tony Fisher.


“The authors and Medical Services gratefully acknowledged the contribution of the authors (Professor S Wessely, Professor PD White and Professor M Aylward) of the enclosed articles and their kind permission to reproduce them in this module. In addition the author would like to express his gratitude to Dr P Dewis for his helpful comments and suggestions”.

http://www.meactionuk.org.uk/PACE-PIs-and-the-DWP.htm

The entry in the recent revision of the DWP Handbook about ME, produced under the leadership of psychiatrist Professor Peter White, has been deemed by the ME Association to be unfit for purpose.

http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/20...sh-uncomprehending-hysterical-or-malingering/

On 17th January 2012 Hansard recorded that Lord Freud referred to the “Models of Sickness and Disability” document that he handed round to selected members of the House of Lords (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201212/ldhansrd/text/120117-0001.htm), this being the document which will apparently underpin the transition of Disabled Living Allowance (DLA) to the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and from which it is clear that the biopsychosocial construct now permeates medical assessments for state benefits (so it may come as no surprise that Professor Peter White is acknowledged as an advisor

http://www.investinme.org/Article-441 UK Welfare Reforms.htm

Well done and thanks for your recent publications in the medical journals. Keep up the good work.