Dear M. Oyesiku,

Thank you for your enquiry of 30 June. This falls to be dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We are considering your information request. Although the Freedom of Information Act carries a presumption in favour of disclosure, it provides exemptions which may be used to withhold information in specified circumstances. Some of these exemptions are subject to a public interest test. These exemptions are known as qualified exemptions. The public interest test is used to balance the public interest in disclosure against the public interest in favour of withholding the information under qualified exemptions. Section 10(3) of the Act allows us to exceed the 20 working day response target where reasonably necessary to consider the public interest test fully. This is subject to us telling applicants when we expect to conclude our deliberations and provide a full response.

The information requested must be considered under the exemptions contained within section 22 of the Act. This is a qualified exemption relating to the intention for future publication. In order to consider the public interest test fully we need to extend the 20 working day response period, and now aim to respond by 25 August.

Should you have any queries about the handling of your information request then please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Sandra Birkinshaw

Freedom of Information Team

North East, Yorkshire and Humber Region

UK Border Agency