Dear Sir,

Thank you for your recent emails about your Freedom of Information request of 22 July in which you asked for an internal review into the decision not to release information to you that you had previously requested in relation to the `Life in the UK' test and also into the reasons why UKBA failed to respond to you within 20 working days.

In view of the fact that your original request fell to be considered under the Freedom of Information Act, I was asked to formally carry out an independent review into the handling of your request for information. This review process is now complete. In order to take forward the review I have examined all the papers and correspondence in relation to your request.

Firstly I acknowledge that the UKBA failed in its obligations under section 10(1) of the Freedom of Information Act in that your response was not sent out “...promptly and in any event not later than the twentieth working day following the date of receipt”. In fact the response was not sent out until 5 November some 75 working days after we received your original request. I would like to take this opportunity to explain that the reason for the significant delay in providing you with a response was due to the additional considerations that took place concerning the use of a qualified exemption i.e. section 36 in the Freedom of Information Act that was applied to withhold some of the requested information.

Under section 17(2) (b) of the Freedom of Information Act a public authority can extend the deadline to respond to a request if a qualified exemption is being cited and if more time is required to make public interest considerations. However, said public authority is under an obligation to notify the requester (in this instance you) within the original 20-working days if more time is required and why. Unfortunately while this action was considered by those responsible for responding to your request a letter was not sent to you explaining the need for additional time. A further consideration could have been to respond to the parts of your enquiry that could be answered i.e. questions 1-4 explaining that more time was required to answer the specific request (question 5) for a list of all the `Life in the UK' test questions.

In summary I find that UKBA failed in its obligation under the Freedom of Information Act to provide you with a response to your request for information within 20- working days, or provide you with an explanation why that date could not be met and for that I apologise.

Moving on to the decision to withhold information under section 36(2) (c) in respect of your question 5 namely your request for a list of all the `Life in the UK' test questions, I have reviewed the original decision and find that it is based on good evidence and soundly made, therefore I uphold that decision. In the response sent to you there is a full explanation provided about how and why the exemption applies, explaining how the effective conduct of public affairs would be prejudiced by releasing the information you request. The public interest test carried out in the body of the response provide sound arguments in support of the release, but in my view those given in support of withholding the information significantly outweigh those in favour of release and therefore the decision reached is the correct one. It is worth remembering that a release made under the Freedom of Information Act is deemed to be a release into the wider public domain and as such we must consider what effect the release of the question you requested would have not only once they arrive into your hands but when/ should they become available to the general public and in particular to those who intend to sit the test in the future. It is on this basis that I agree the public interest is best served by not making copies of the request available to the wider general public.

I hope the findings provided in this internal review reassure you that the Agency treated your request in line with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act. If, however, you are still dissatisfied with the way the Agency has treated your request you can write to:

The Information Commissioner

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely

Ian Morris

Information Access Policy Team

UK Border Agency