Dear Mr Thackery

Request for information

Thank you for your email of 9 February 2009 in, which you asked for

`a list of all gifts, hospitality or donations supplied to HMCS by Scientology organisations, over the past 5 years.'

from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

Your request has been passed to me because I have responsibility for answering requests, which relate to Her Majesty's Courts Service (HMCS). HMCS is an executive agency of the MoJ and is responsible for managing the magistrates' courts, the Crown Court, county courts, the High Court and Court of Appeal in England and Wales. Your request 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 provide an answer without further clarification.

In order to provide you with the information on the scale that you have requested would require information to be obtained from all the courts and offices throughout England and Wales, which would exceed the time limit. HMCS does not maintain a central register of gifts, hospitality and donations. Each location court/office is responsible for the maintaining of its own register.

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 HMCS holds the information, as well as 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. For example, you may wish to narrow the scope of your request by asking for the information from a specific court or office.

As part of our obligations under the FOIA, the MoJ 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 will re-assess how HMCS 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 months of the date of this letter, at the following address:

Ministry of Justice

Data Access and Compliance Unit

Information Directorate

1^st Floor, Zone 1C

Post point 1.41

102 Petty France

London

SW1H 9AJ

e-mail: [email address]

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

Internet: https://www.ico.gov.uk/Global/contact_us.aspx

Yours sincerely

Lance Holden

HMCS Fraud & Information Security Unit

Page 2