MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

POLOPS 10

PJHQ-J9

Permanent Joint Headquarters

Northwood HQ

Sandy Lane

Northwood

Middlesex

HA6 3HP

e-mail: pjhq-j9foi@pjhq.mod.uk

20^th February 2009

Mr Laurence Rowe

[email address]

Our reference: 04-02-2009-111623-004

Dear Mr Rowe,

Request for Information

Thank you for your further correspondence dated 11^th February regarding civilian casualties, which is considered to be a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. I am responding on behalf of the information holders.

You asked:

While I can appreciate the difficulty of monitoring atrocities against the civilian population by the Taliban, my question referred to the number of civilian casualties as a result of ISAF action. Recent media reports [link to MOD Blog] indicate that you do keep such figures. I would be grateful if you could supply them to me. As I'm sure you can appreciate, such information is vital if the public is to evaluate the statements made by politicians that our military involvement does indeed "support the people of Afghanistan".

I am sorry that you felt that our original response did not fully address your request for information, and hope now to clarify the situation. 

In your recent correspondence you refer to press reports of a UK officer being arrested for passing civilian casualty data to a human rights organisation, and suggest that as this individual is a UK officer, the Ministry of Defence will hold the information you have requested.  This is not the case - the Ministry of Defence does not hold figures on the number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan resulting directly from the actions of UK forces, or resulting directly from the actions of US or International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) forces.   

As you will appreciate, because the investigation is ongoing we cannot comment on the specific incident you refer to, beyond confirming that the officer was arrested for a suspected breach of the UK's Official Secrets Act.  However in answering your request, it may be useful to explain the reporting arrangements of personnel working on multi-national operations such as the ISAF mission in Afghanistan.  Troops deployed in Afghanistan come under the operational command of Commander ISAF.  Therefore whilst an officer may be a member of the British Army, there may be situations in which he or she has access to information which would remain within their immediate Chain of Command and not be available to the MOD in London.  For example, a UK officer working in the ISAF Headquarters. 

You may wish to approach ISAF for any information they may hold.

If you are unhappy with this response or you wish to complain about any aspect of the handling of your request, then you should contact me in the first instance.  If informal resolution is not possible and you are still dissatisfied then you may apply for an independent internal review by contacting the Director of Information Exploitation, 6th Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail [email address]).  Please note that any request for an internal review must be made within 40 working days of the date on which the attempt to reach informal resolution has come to an end.

If you remain unhappy following an internal review, you may take your complaint to the Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not investigate the case until the internal review process has been completed. Further details of the role and powers of the Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's website, http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.

Yours sincerely,

POLOPS 10