From:  
 
CIO-CI-AccessOps1  
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE 
 
Main Building, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2HB. 
 
 
Telephone 
(Direct dial) 
020 7218 9000 
 
 
(Fax) 
020 7218 4619 
 e-Mail 
CIO-[email address] 
 
 
Mr Ben Jones 
 
REQUEST-13762-
Your Reference 
[email address] 
 
Our Reference: 29-06-2009-160557-001 
 
Date: 23 July 2009 
 
 
 
 
Dear Mr Jones 
 
Release of Information 
 
1.  Thank you for your correspondence dated 26 June 2009, which has been considered 
to be a request for information in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000. 
 
2.  Your request was as follows: 
 
     If held please provide me with the departmental procedures on 
     dealing with Freedom of Information requests, with indications of 
     the level of Ministerial involvement and how many requests have been 
     delayed due to being held up by Ministers. 
 
3. I can confirm that the Ministry of Defence does hold some of the information that you 
have requested.  I have looked at each area of your request in turn. 
 
Departmental procedures on dealing with Freedom of Information requests 
with indications of the level of Ministerial involvement 
 
4. Some of this information is held by the MOD.  Though it is subject to exemption under 
Section 21 of the FOI Act (information reasonably accessible to the applicant by other 
means) I have provided links and an explanation below. 
 
5. The “Hints for Practitioners” booklet, was produced in collaboration between the 
Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
(Defra), the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and MoD, and is published at: 
 
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/FreedomOfInformation/PublicationScheme/SearchP
ublicationScheme/HintsForPractitionersHandlingFoiAndEirRequests.htm 
 
6. This booklet provides details of the FOI handling process for MOD desk officers, such 
as the use of absolute or qualified exemptions in responses to FOI requests.  Please 
contact me if you require a hard copy of this booklet. 
 
7. The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) are responsible for freedom of information policy in the 
UK, and develop the framework for the Act to be enacted properly by public authorities, 
providing them with guidance and best practice. MOJ guidance is published on their 
 

---

 
website and is aimed at people working in central government departments who deal 
with freedom of information requests. This is the guidance that MOD applies when 
responding to FOI requests and clarifies the points made in the introductory booklet 
mentioned above. 
 
8. The Ministry of Justice guidance includes policy on when a decision from Ministers 
must be sought. The whole guidance can be found at:  
 
http://www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/freedom-of-information.htm 
 
 
The section that deals specifically with Ministerial involvement can be found at: 
 
http://www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/docs/foi-exemption-s36.pdf 
 
In addition, business areas are free to inform Ministers of FOI requests when they deem 
necessary. However, we do not hold information when Ministers were involved in 
particular requests. 
 
How many requests have been delayed by Ministers? 
 
9. This information is not held.  
 
10.  The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs 
and Patents Act 1988 (the Act).  Unless specifically permitted by the Act, any 
reproduction of the information, in whole or in part, requires the permission of the 
copyright holder. Most documents supplied by the Ministry of Defence will have been 
produced by government officials and will be Crown Copyright. You can find details on 
the arrangements for re-using Crown Copyright from the Office of Public Sector 
Information at: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/index.htm.  Information you receive may 
also include third party owned information. Such information must not be reproduced, in 
whole or in part, without first obtaining the permission of any such third party rights 
holder. 
 
11.  If you are not satisfied with this response or you wish to complain about any aspect 
of the handling of your request, then you should contact me in the first instance. If 
informal resolution is not possible and you are still dissatisfied then you may apply for an 
independent internal review by contacting the Head of Corporate Information, 6th Floor, 
MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail CIO-FOI-[email address]). Please note 
that any request for an internal review must be made within 40 working days of the date 
on which the attempt to reach informal resolution has come to an end. 
 
12. If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may take your complaint to 
the Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of 
Information Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not investigate your 
case until the MOD internal review process has been completed. Further details of the 
role and powers of the Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's 
website, http://www.ico.gov.uk. 
 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
 
CIO-CI-Access Ops 1 
 

---