13/01/2010

King Charles Street

London

SW1A 2AH

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST INTERNAL REVIEW 0939-09

Dear Mr Schiller,

You requested an internal review of the decision, conveyed to you in Alison Cross' email of 1 December 2009, not to disclose material on your request regarding Application Numbers 16484/90 and 17744/91 under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”).

I have conducted a full examination of all the material, both released and exempted, of relevance to your request. I have concluded the following.

Search for information

I have reviewed the original search for information in relation to your request, and have spoken to personnel involved and checked procedures were followed correctly. I am content that a reasonable search was carried out in relation to your request.

Use of exemptions

The exemption previously used was the Legal Professional Privilege (Section 42 Freedom of Information Act). I have reviewed the material thoroughly and am content that the exemption was correctly used and the material should not be released. As stated in Alison Cross' letter of 4 December 2009, the principle of Legal Professional Privilege applies in this case because release of Legal Advise would prevent lawyers from having the necessary confidentiality to properly advise their clients.

I am therefore satisfied that your Freedom of Information request was handled appropriately and the correct information was released.

If you are not content with the outcome of this 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

Yours sincerely,

Adam Dady

Open Government Liaison Officer

2

Foreign &

Commonwealth

Office