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Dear Mr Muller,

Re: Request for Internal Review - Request 4210

Thank you for your dated 8^th September 2009 regarding the response to your recent request to the Council (our ref: 4210).

In your you asked for an internal review of the handling of your Request. I have summarised the details of your appeal below:

I am sorry that you are dissatisfied with our handling of your requests and I have investigated your complaints under Stage 1 of the Council's Corporate Complaints Procedure. Further details of our procedure can be found on our website: http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/councilgovernmentanddemocracy/councils/contactsconsultationandfeedback/complaints-and-compliments/complaints/

Response

You submitted your original request to the Council on the 10^th August 2009, asking for information about the Verrus contract. You then contacted the Council on the completion target date of the 8^th September 2009 asking for an internal review because you had not yet received a response. This was received by the Knowledge & Information Management Team on the 11^th September, and acknowledged on the same day. The department dealing with your request emailed you on the 10^th September 2009 to apologise for the delay. They wrote to you again on the 14^th September to ask for clarification on some of the aspects of your request.

In responding to your request for an internal review I will refer to the following sections of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Under section 1 (1) of the Act, a public authority must respond promptly within 20 working days, unless the following applies:

If the above is applied, however, the applicant must be informed that this is the case promptly, i.e. within 20 working days of receipt of the original request.

Due to the nature of your original request the Council needed to consider whether some of the information was exempt from provision by virtue of section 43(2), Commercial interests, as it related to contracts and charges. The Council needed to determine whether the public interest in withholding the information was outweighed by the public interest in disclosing it.

While section 10 (3) of the Act allows the 20 working day time limit to be extended in such circumstances, the Council failed to meet the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act as you were not informed of the reason for the extension of the time limit promptly within 20 working days of receipt of your original request.

Your complaint is, therefore, upheld.

As a result we are reviewing our procedures and reminding staff of their obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Further, I can confirm that the public interest test assessment is being concluded we aim to provide you with a response to your original request within 5 working days.

This completes the internal review into the handling of your Request under the Council's complaints procedure. Should you be dissatisfied with our response, you are entitled to contact the Information Commissioner under Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act. For your reference, I have provided his contact details below:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Tel: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45
Fax: 01625 524510

Web: www.ico.gov.uk

I hope this fulfils your request. Should you have any queries, please contact me at the address above.

Yours sincerely,

Knowledge & Information Management Team

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Under the Data Protection Act 1998, Data Subjects have rights to challenge, alter or erase the inaccurate and unlawful processing of their information. In the first instance please contact The Data Protection Officer, Information Services, 101 Orchardson Street, London NW8 8EA. If you are not satisfied with our response you may contact The Information Commissioner: Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF