Dear Dr Tai

I refer to the request made in your 30 July 2008 email.

I am pleased to confirm that there has been correspondence between the Department for Innovation Universities and Skills (DIUS) (including its predecessor the DTI) and the British Standards Institution regarding the standardisation process of Office OpenXML at the International Organisation for Standardisation, in particular the draft international standard DIS 29500. There has not been any correspondence regarding those matters between DIUS (including its predecessor the DTI) and the Microsoft Corporation.

We do not hold a summary list containing a short description of each piece of correspondence. Under the Freedom of Information Act we are not oblige to create information that does not exist. Indeed, under the Freedom of Information Act “information” means information recorded in any form so we have now determined that technically your request is not a request for information within the meaning of that act.

Yours

Radhika Sriskandarajah