28 August 2009

By email.

Dear Mr Freeman,

Freedom of Information request- ref: 614-09- UK funding for projects in Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Thank you for your request for information, which we received on 31 July 2009.

The FOI Act obliges us to respond to requests promptly and in any case no later than 20 working days after receiving your request. However, when a qualified exemption is engaged and the public interest test is being considered, the Act allows the time for response to be longer than 20 working days, and a full response must be provided within such time as is reasonable in all circumstances of the case. We do, of course, aim to make all decisions within 20 working days, including in cases where we need to consider where the public interest lies in respect of a request.  In this case, however, we have not yet reached a decision on where the balance of the public interest test lies. 

In your case we estimate that it will take an additional 20 working days to take a decision on where the balance of the public interest lies. Therefore, we plan to let you have a response by 28 September 2009. It if appears that it will take longer than this to reach a conclusion, we will keep you informed. 

The specific exemption which we are considering in relation to your request is section 27 (International Relations).

Yours sincerely,

Norman Leinster

Norman Leinster

Open Government Liaison Officer

Near East Group

Near East Group

Middle East & North Africa

Directorate

King Charles Street

SW1A 2AH

www.fco.gov.uk