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This is an HTML version of an attachment to the Freedom of Information request 'Scientology gifts'.
 
 
 
           
 
 
 
 
Teresa Chance 
Corporate Governance 
04/52 
100 Parliament Street 
 
 
London  SW1A 2BQ 
 
Mr William Thackeray 
 
 
by email to: 
Tel 
  
 
[FOI #7572 email] 
 
Fax 
020 7147 0666 
 
 
 
Email    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Date 
23 March 2009 
www.hmrc.gov.uk 
 
Our Ref 
FOI 1231/09 
 
Your Ref 
           
 
________ 
 
 
 
 
 
Dear Mr Thackeray, 
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) 
 
Thank you for your email dated 23 February 2009, in which you clarified the information you 
wished to obtain from HMRC. Your initial request was for a list of “all gifts, hospitality or 
donations supplied to HMRC by Scientology organisations, over the past 5 years”. 
 
I have treated your latest email as a new request under the FOIA.  Following my earlier 
response to your initial request, you responded: 
 
1.” I would like to include organisations which formerly had a separate existence but which 
are now part of HMRC. 
     
2.  By 'Scientology organisations', I mean organisations which promote, recruit members for, 
or raise money for, Church of Scientology Religious Education College Inc (a US corporation 
which has been denied charitable status in the UK). 
 
To the best of my knowledge a list of such organisations would include: 
 
Citizens Commission on Human Rights (United Kingdom) Ltd / Citizens Commission on 
Human Rights International / Jive Aces / Church of Scientology Inc / Greenfields School / 
Greenfields Educational Trust / Hubbard Foundation / ABLE / Applied Scholastics 
International / Narconon / Criminon / The Way to Happiness Foundation International / 
Church of Scientology Religious Education College Inc / Office of Special Affairs (OSA) / 
Sea Org / Youth for Human Rights International 
 
 
Information is available in large print, audio tape and Braille formats. 
Type Talk service prefix number – 18001 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3.  By 'donations', I mean donations of any kind.  For example, a public official recently 
accepted from a Scientology organisation the donation of a free ticket to a £500/head gala 
dinner. This is an example of a non-monetary donation. 
 
4.  My query refers to donations accepted by employees or representatives of HMRC as 
individuals. 
 
5.  In general, there is a strong public interest in members of public being able to query 
HMRC's gifts and hospitality register.  Your response makes it effectively impossible to do 
so. In respect of such a situation, the internal structure of HMRC is of little interest or 
relevance to the member of the public making the query. 
 
In this specific case, the organisation about which I am enquiring has recently made gifts to 
public officials in other branches of government. There is therefore a likelihood that similar 
gifts may also have been offered to HMRC employees, especially as HMRC has in recent 
years made a number of decisions which have had profound effects upon the organisation in 
question. 
 
I am however unable to tell you to which part of HMRC such gifts may have been made, 
because I do not yet know the details of any such gifts which may exist, as this is the 
information which I am requesting from you. 
 
 In effect your response means that I can only ask you for information about gifts about 
which I already know; in the case of gifts which I do not already know about, I am unable to 
specify to which part of HMRC they have been made, because I don't yet know about them. 
 
This presents something of a "Catch-22" situation in respect of gifts, in that I can only 
request access to information which I already have, and to which it is therefore unnecessary 
for me to request access. 
 
 I would point out that other public bodies do maintain a central register of gifts, in some 
cases searchable by the public directly over the Internet. 
 
 I would suggest that the maintenance of such a register should be part of HMRC's normal 
operations in respect of accountability, and should not therefore be considered part of the 
cost of responding to this FOI request.” 
 
HMRC’s response 
  
1.  You are effectively extending the scope of your request since you now also require 
information relating to the former departments prior to the formation of HMRC on 18 April 
2005.  
      
2.   You have clarified which specific organisations would be included within the scope of 
your request but this has effectively extended the scope of your request further.  
     
3.  You have clarified what you meant by the term “donation”.  I can confirm that the items 
which you define as “donations” would fall to be considered as gifts and would be recorded 
as such. 
      
4.   As stated above, HMRC would record such donations as gifts. 
    
5.  I agree that there is a strong public interest in members of the public being able to query 
HMRC's gifts and hospitality register.  The rules on acceptance of gifts and hospitality by 
civil servants are set out in the Civil Service Code and the Civil Service Management Code 
which make it clear that civil servants must not receive benefits of any kind from a third party 
which might be seen to compromise their personal judgement or integrity.  
 
http://beta.civilservice.gov.uk/Assets/cs_code_tcm6-2444.pdf 
 
 
 
 
 
http://beta.civilservice.gov.uk/about/work/codes/csmc/CSMC-Intro.aspx 
 
I note your comments regarding the maintenance of registers and how this would ensure 
accountability.  As already explained, HMRC does keep central records of gifts and 
hospitality received by Board members and I have already provided you with links to this 
information which is published on the internet.  For other staff, hospitality registers are kept 
within individual local management units.  
 
As already explained, under section 12(2) of the FOIA, I am still unable to confirm or deny 
that HMRC holds information falling within the description of your request, because we 
estimate that it would take more than the appropriate limit to ascertain whether or not we 
hold the information.  
 
Section 12(1) of FOIA provides that a department is not obliged to comply with its duty under 
section 1(1)(b) if the estimated cost exceeds a limit as prescribed in regulations.  This has 
already been explained in my previous letter.  Section 12(2) of FOIA states that a 
department is not obliged to comply with its duty under paragraph (a) of section 1(1) where 
the estimated cost of complying with that paragraph alone would exceed the appropriate 
limit.   
 
Normally HMRC would explore with you how you might be able to narrow your request so 
that it did not exceed the fees limit. However, in this case, I cannot see any scope for doing 
this.  Even if you narrowed your request to a single business unit, within HMRC, it is likely 
that the fees limit would still be exceeded.  
 
If you are not happy with this reply you may request an internal review by emailing 
[email address] or by writing to HMRC FOI Team, Room 4/52, 100 Parliament 
Street London SWIA 2BQ.  You must request a review within 2 months of the date of this 
letter.  It would assist our review if you set out which aspects of the reply concern you and 
why you are dissatisfied. 
  
If you are not happy with the outcome of the internal review, you may apply directly to the 
Information Commissioner for a decision.  Generally, the Information Commissioner cannot 
make a decision unless you have exhausted the review procedure provided by HMRC.  He 
can be contacted at The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, 
Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.  E-mail:[email address] 
 
Yours sincerely 
 
 
Teresa Chance