Information Access Team
Shared Services Directorate
2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF
Switchboard 020 7035 4848
E-mail: [email address] Website: www.homeoffice.gov.uk
Mr John Reith
[FOI #8555 email]
Our Ref: 11792
Date: 4 September 2009
Dear Mr Reith,
I am writing further to my correspondence of 7 August 2009, regarding your
information request of 2 March 2009.
I would first of al like to apologise for the delay in providing you with a response.
Unfortunately the request was originally allocated to the incorrect part of the
Department. The Information Access Team is responsible for the handling of al
‘cross-cutting’ requests within the Home Office. These are requests in which relevant
information may be held by more than one part of the Department. As soon as this
request was brought to my attention I asked that it be re-al ocated to me. I have
processed your request as quickly as possible, but nonetheless the delay in providing
you with a final response represents a breach of section 10(1) of the Act. I apologise
on behalf of the Home Office for this breach. The Home Office takes its
responsibilities under the Act seriously and makes every effort to fulfil its statutory
obligations. Where there is a breach of section 10(1) we make every effort to identify
the problem to ensure that it will not happen again.
Under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act, the Home Office is not obliged
to comply with any information request where the prescribed costs of supplying you
with the information exceed £600. The £600 limit applies to al central government
departments and is based on work being carried out at a rate of £25 per hour, which
equates to 3½ days work per request. Prescribed costs include those which cover
the cost of locating and retrieving information, and preparing our response to you.
They do not include considering whether any information is exempt from disclosure,
overheads such as heating or lighting, or disbursements such as photocopying or
postage.
We have estimated that the cost of answering your request would exceed the £600
limit and we are therefore unable to comply with it. Although your request would at
present be too costly to answer, if you refine it so that it fal s under the cost limit we
wil consider it further. The Home Office holds a number of files related to John
Stalker and the inquiry which he carried out. Your request asked for al information
held by the Home Office specifically relating to:
‘…the suspension of the former Deputy Chief Constable of Greater Manchester
Police John Stalker from duty in 1986 and his removal from what was commonly
known as the "shoot to kil " inquiry in Northern Ireland.’
The Home Office does not hold a series of named files directly relating to the
suspension of Mr Stalker. The cost of sifting files which may contain this information
would exceed the cost limit. In order to restrict any future search you may wish to
specify a narrower time frame. For example, information from a particular year in
which you might be interested.
You should however be aware that if you break your request down into a series of
smaller requests, we might, depending on the circumstances of the case, decline to
answer if the aggregated cost of complying exceeds £600, as permitted by the Fees
Regulations.
If you are dissatisfied with this response you may request an independent internal
review of our handling of your request by submitting your complaint within two
months to the above address quoting reference 11792.
During the independent review the department’s handling of your information request
wil be reassessed by staff who were not involved in providing you with this response.
Should you remain dissatisfied after this internal review, you will have a right of
complaint to the Information Commissioner as established by section 50 of the
Freedom of Information Act.
I realise that this reply may be a disappointment to you, but I look forward to hearing
from you again shortly should you wish to refine your request.
Yours sincerely,
John Bragaglia
Information Access Consultant
