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Dear Mr Low

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST ON COMMON PURPOSE COURSES

[FOI #9557 email]

Thank you for your request dated 20 March 2009 under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 for total expenditure on Common Purpose Courses by SASA between 1997 and the current year. We have now completed our search for the information you request, and our findings are explained below.

Following a search of our papers and electronic records, I have established that the information you have requested for the period 1997 until December 2001 is not accessible due to a change in computer systems in December 2001. Any paper records held for this period have been routinely destroyed in accordance with our standard records management practice. I am therefore unable to provide any information for this period.

I have further searched our electronic records for the period from December 2001 until the current month and SASA have not made any payments to a company named Common Purpose.

If you are unhappy with this response to your request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review, by writing to Mr Richard Wakeford, Director General Environment, Pentland House, 47 Robbs Loan, Edinburgh, EH14 1TY. Your request should explain why you wish a review to be carried out, and should be made within 40 working days of receipt of this letter, and we will reply within 20 working days of receipt. If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to make a formal complaint to the Scottish Information Commissioner.

Yours sincerely

Miss M Cochrane

Head of Finance

T: 0131-244 8811

E: [email address]

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