23 September 2009

Communication Directorate

King Charles Street

London SW1 2AH

Tel: 0207 008 3100

Fax: 0207 008 6571

E-mail: newsdesk@fco.gov.uk

Guy Freeman

By e-mail to: [email address]

Dear Guy,

FOI REQUEST: 0647-09

I write in relation to your request on 10 August 2009 for information concerning:

“the role that Martin Day plays within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; copies of the event diary for 2009 for Martin Day in his official capacity and all correspondence that the FCO or any of its constituent parts (e.g. Embassies) has had with Martin Day concerning the “projects aimed at stopping settlement activity” that he is quoted as discussing in a report by AFP. “

I can confirm that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) holds information relevant to your request and the material releasable to you under the Act is attached. Information has been exempted under Section 27 (1)(a) and Section 35 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act. Please see the explanation at the end of this letter.

Regarding your query about Martin Day's role, Martin is the Regional Arabic Spokesman for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, based in Dubai. His mandate is to engage with the Arabic language media across the Middle East on the full range of UK foreign policy issues. He reports through the Press Office in London and our Embassy in Dubai.

Martin consults regularly with Press Office and the relevant policy desks in London.

As spokesman, Martin Day does not play a role in policy making or directing projects related to settlement activity. However, it is within his remit to provide feedback on how our policies are perceived by Middle East audiences, as well as providing suggestions for modifying our messaging to ensure that these policies are better understood.

If you are unhappy with the decision made in relation to your request you may ask for an internal review. You should contact me if you wish to complain. You have 40 working days to do so from receipt of this reply.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Yours sincerely,

Barry Marston

Barry Marston

Persian & Arabic Spokesman

Foreign Office Press Office

Section 27 (1)(a)

Section 27(1)(a) of the FOIA recognises the need to protect information that would be likely to prejudice relations between the United Kingdom and other states if it was disclosed. In this case, the release of information relating to private discussions with Israeli interlocutors and discussion of sensitive issues related to our relations with the Government of Israel could prejudice these relations.

The application of s.27(1)(a) requires us to consider the public interest test arguments in favour of releasing and withholding the information. We acknowledge that releasing information on this issue would increase public knowledge about our relations with Israel. But s.27(1)(a) recognises that the effective conduct of international relations depends upon maintaining trust and confidence between governments. If the United Kingdom does not maintain this trust and confidence, its ability to protect and promote UK interests through international relations will be hampered, which will not be in the public interest. The disclosure of information detailing our relationship with the Israeli government could potentially damage the bilateral relationship between the UK and Israel. This would reduce the UK government's ability to protect and promote UK interests through its relations with Israel, which would not be in the public interest. For these reasons we consider that the public interest in maintaining this exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing it.

Section 35 (1)

Some of the information you requested is exempt under Section 35(1)(a) - formulation of government policy. This Section is statutory recognition of the public interest in allowing government to have a clear space, immune from exposure to public view, in which it can debate matters internally with candour and free from the pressures of public political debate.

In this case, there is a general public interest in being able to understand better the way in which Government works and how or why decisions in the area of foreign relations are reached. It is also in the public interest to release information about the process by which policy decisions were made in order to demonstrate that advice was sought from the appropriate quarters and that the final policy direction was developed on a sound basis.

However, this section of the Act provides statutory recognition of the need for a clear space for Ministers, officials and providers of expert advice to debate matters internally and conduct robust risk assessments with complete candour, free from the pressures of public political debate in order to produce realistic and properly considered policies. Government officials need to be able to expose the merits and de-merits of all the policy options as appropriate. There is a risk that officials' candour in considering the drawbacks of various options would be affected by their assessment of whether the content of such discussions will be disclosed in the near future or that particularly sensitive exchanges of views would not be recorded for the written record. For these reasons, the public interest in withholding this information outweighs the public interest in disclosing it.

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Foreign &

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