marion.arc
Mr J Snowdome 
[email address] 
 
Request-
Direct tel:  +44(0)1392 884036 
 
[email address]
Direct fax:  +44(0)1392 885681 
   
m
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
Our ref:   14-07-2006-163513-015                                   22 July 2008                                                             
 
 Dear Mr Snowdome 
  
 Re: Freedom of Information  
 
Your email dated 23 June 2008 has been considered to be a request for information in 
accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.  Thank you for clarifying your request 
for information on how long emails and correspondence are stored within the Met Office. 
 
Emails between different parts of the Met Office and correspondence between the Met Office 
and external correspondents are stored for only as long as needed because of storage space 
in our IT systems.   There is no set time that items must be stored for general 
correspondence.  The Met Office complies with the Data Protection Act 1998 and any 
documents covered by the Act would be stored for the required time. 
     
I hope this answers your enquiry. 
 
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and 
Patents Act 1988 (the Act).  Unless specifically permitted by the Act, any reproduction of the 
information, in whole or in part, requires the permission of the copyright holder. Most 
documents supplied by the Ministry of Defence will have been produced by government 
officials and will be Crown Copyright. You can find details on the arrangements for re-using 
Crown Copyright from the Office of Public Sector Information at: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/click-
use/index.htm
 
Information you receive may also include third party owned information. Such information 
must not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without first obtaining the permission of any such 
third party rights holder. 
 
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. 
 
 
 

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If you are still 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 your case until the 
MOD 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,  
 
Marion Archer 
 
 
FOI Manager               
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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