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'Eligibility of Irish and Commonwealth citizens to sit in the House of Lords'.
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Kirsten O'Connell T 020 3334 5241 F 020 3334 3749 Ekirsten.o'connell@justice.gsi.gov.uk
www.justice.gov.uk |
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Mr Bimmler
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Our Ref: 62628 |
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14 January 2010 |
Dear Mr Bimmler
Re: Request for information
Thank you for your email of 14th December 2009, in which you asked for the following from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ);
The communication made to the Government “some months ago” which “alerted it to the matter”,
Any reply sent to the person or organisation who sent the communication referred to in (1),
All records of internal and cross-departmental discussion (including memoranda and notes) following form the communication in (1).
Your request has been passed to me because I have responsibility for answering requests which relate to electoral matters and has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
I am sorry to inform you that from my preliminary assessment of your request, it is clear that I will not be able to answer your request without further clarification, due to the broad scope of your request.
Section 12 of the FOIA makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for central government is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 3.5 working days in determining whether the Department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.
As your request is widely framed, I estimate that it will take us in excess of 3.5 working days to determine appropriate material within the scope of your request, and locate, retrieve and extract that information.
You may wish to narrow the scope of your request in order to try and bring it within the cost limit, by being more specific about which information you wish to receive, including any dates or periods of time which are relevant. For example, you may wish to narrow the scope of your request to a specific timescale or specify the scope of the request. If you wish to respond narrowing your request then we will consider whether it comes within the cost limit.
However, even if you were to refine your request to bring it within the cost limit, it may still engage other exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act.
As part of our obligations under the FOIA, the Ministry of Justice has an independent review process. If you are dissatisfied with this decision, you may write to request an internal review. The internal review will be carried out by someone who did not make the original decision, and they will re-assess how the Department handled the original request.
If you wish to request an internal review, please write or send an email to the Data Access and Compliance Unit within two calendar months of the date of this letter, at the following address:
Data Access and Compliance Unit
Information Directorate
Ministry of Justice
6th Floor,
Post point 6.24
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ
If you remain dissatisfied after an internal review decision, you have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner's Office under Section 50 of the FOIA. You can contact the Information Commissioner's Office at the following address:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely
Kirsten O'Connell
