Information Access Team
Financial and Commercial Group
4th Floor, Seacole Building (NE)
2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF
Switchboard 020 7035 4848
[email address] www.homeoffice.gov.uk
Ben Ingram
Our Ref 11991
Your Ref
Request-12315-
[email address]
Date
30 June 2009
Dear Mr Ingram
I am writing further to my correspondence of 18 June regarding your information request dated
22 May in which you asked for details of all Freedom of Information requests received
between 1 January and 22 May 2009. We are now in a position to provide you with a full reply
to your request.
I am pleased to be able to disclose most of the information you requested. We do not hold
information about the number of days taken to reply to each request for information, but the
attached spreadsheet does show when each request was received and when each received a
reply. It also indicates which, if any, exemptions were used to withhold any information for
each case and which exemption, shown by section number, was applied. The word ‘true’
indicates that an exemption was applied and ‘false’ indicates that an exemption was not
applied.
You also asked us to indicate if we were aware that any requests were received via a website.
Where this is shown in our database we have indicated this in the far right column. For
example, whatdotheyknow.com is shown as WDTK.
In keeping with the spirit and effect of the Freedom of Information Act, all information is
assumed to be releasable to the public unless exempt. The department therefore, wil be
simultaneously releasing to the public the information you requested together with any related
information that wil provide a key to its wider context.
You may be interested to know that the Ministry of Justice publishes quarterly statistics on
departmental performance under the Freedom of Information Act. This information can be
found at the following website address:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/freedomofinformationquarterly.htm
Even though you did not request the names of those sending us requests for information,
some requests did contain personal information, such as names and e-mail addresses, which
BUILDING A SAFE, JUST AND TOLERANT SOCIETY
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we have redacted (removed). This information has been withheld under section 40(2), on the
basis that disclosure would breach the Data Protection Act. A detailed explanation of section
40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act is within the attached annex as is the procedure to
follow if you are not satisfied with this letter.
I would like to assure you that you have been supplied with all disclosable information that the
Home Office holds. Where information has been withheld, I would like to assure you that we
have considered the application of exemptions with great care in this case.
Yours sincerely
Steve Kirk
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Annex
Section 40(2): Personal data
The names, postal addresses and e-mail addresses of those sending the Home Office
requests for information have been withheld under section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information
Act. This is on the basis that disclosure would breach the Data Protection Act and in particular
the first data protection principle that the processing of personal data must be fair and lawful.
Complaints
If you are dissatisfied with this response you may request an independent internal review of
our handling of your request by submitting your complaint within two months to the below
address quoting reference 11991:
Information Access Team
Information Management Service
Home Office
4th Floor, Seacole Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
Email: [email address]
During the independent review, the department’s handling of your information request wil be
reassessed by staff who were not involved in providing you with this response. Should you
remain dissatisfied after this internal review, you wil have a right of complaint to the
Information Commissioner as established by section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act.
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