Alderman Ian Luder, Scientology

The City of London acknowledges receipt of your request.

City of London
[1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

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Dear Mr Thackeray,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 (FOIA) - INFORMATION REQUEST

Further to your request of 18 February 2010, and our acknowledgement of
the same date, the City of London (CoL) responds as follows.

This response constitutes a Refusal Notice. The CoL estimates that the
work required to locate and extract the information you have requested
would take considerably more than provided for in the Freedom of
Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations
2004, exceeding the cost ceiling, called (as you will know) the
'appropriate limit', of £450, representing 18 hours work by one person
equivalent at the statutory chargeable rate of £25 an hour.

It is in the nature of your request that it covers the whole of the CoL as
a local authority, police authority and port health authority (and
numerous Scientology bodies). The information you request is therefore not
of a kind which would be centrally held. To ensure that we fully complied
with the scope of your request would involve surveying the filing systems
(in every medium), for each department, employee and elected Member,
covering all document types and checking for every organisation which you
list. The length of time that this would take would be so excessive it is
difficult sensibly to make an estimate, but it would run into hundreds of
hours. We note, too, the Information Commissioner's guidance as provided
in his decision notice (Ref: FS 50238979) as to what constitutes a
significant burden to a public authority in complying with a request,
namely where "significant involvement and coordination of staff across the
public authority" would be involved.

Public authorities are not required to comply with requests which it is
estimated may exceed the appropriate limit. Where they do comply, they are
allowed to charge the full permitted cost. For resource reasons, it is the
practice of the CoL not to comply with requests which exceed the
appropriate limit.

In accordance with best practice guidance, as described in the Information
Commissioner's decision notice (Ref: FS 50203140), after applying the
appropriate limit a public authority is required to provide advice and
assistance, in so far as is possible, as to ways in which an applicant
could reduce a request so that it may fall within the appropriate limit.
Because of the scope of your request, (a) we are unable to confirm or deny
to what extent we may hold information you have requested, beyond the item
already disclosed to you (subject to exemptions) under cover of our
response of 25 September 2009; and, (b) it is difficult to suggest ways in
which you could reduce your request so that it may fall within the
appropriate limit.

However, assuming concentration on certain main functions (as listed
below), which would seem the most likely to hold information if any were
held, we calculate it would take 45 hours, at a statutory cost of £1,125
to locate, retrieve and extract any such information.

For your assistance in considering how your request may be refined, the
breakdown of the estimate is as follows:

Comptroller & City Solicitor's Department - 15 hrs
Chamberlain's Department (including Rates Collection) - 2 hrs
Environmental Services Department - 2 hrs
Planning & Transportation Department - 3 hrs
Public Relations Office - 3 hrs
Town Clerk's Department (files of the Court of Common Council, the Finance
Committee, and the Policy & Resources Committee) - 1 hr

Elected Members - 19 hrs

Please email us or phone with your suggestions as to a refined request.
Please note that any revised request would be, in accordance with the
FOIA, a new request.

If you wish to make a complaint about the way the City of London has
handled your enquiry, please make your complaint in writing to email
address: [email address]. For a link to the City of
London's FOI complaints procedure, please visit the following page:
[1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Feedback, at the end of which is located the
FOI complaints procedure. If, having used the City of London's FOI
Complaints Procedure, you are still dissatisfied, you may request the
Information Commissioner to investigate. Please contact: Information
Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Telephone: (01625) 545700. Website: [2]http://www.ico.gov.uk/.

The FOIA applies to the City of London as a local authority, police
authority and port health authority.

The City of London holds the copyright in this email. The supply of this
does not give you a right to re-use the document in a way that would
infringe that copyright, for example, by making copies, publishing and
issuing copies to the public or to any other person. Brief extracts of any
of the material may be reproduced under the fair dealing provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (sections 29 and 30) for the
purposes of research for non-commercial purposes, private study,
criticism, review and news reporting, subject to an acknowledgement of the
copyright owner.

Yours sincerely,

City of London
[3]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk
Tel: 020-7332 1209

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The City of London acknowledges receipt of your request.

City of London
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

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Dear Mr Thackeray,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 (FOIA) - INFORMATION REQUEST

Following your request of 10 March 2010, and our acknowledgement of 11
March, the City of London (CoL) responds as follows.

The CoL is unable to comply with your request by the statutory compliance
deadline, which is today. Please accept our apologies. We aim to respond
by close of 7 May 2010, but will of course respond sooner if possible.

If you wish to make a complaint about the way the City of London has
handled your enquiry, please make your complaint in writing to email
address: [email address]. For a link to the City of
London's FOI complaints procedure, please visit the following page:
[1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Feedback, at the end of which is located the
FOI complaints procedure. If, having used the City of London's FOI
Complaints Procedure, you are still dissatisfied, you may request the
Information Commissioner to investigate. Please contact: Information
Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Telephone: (01625) 545700. Website: [2]http://www.ico.gov.uk/.

The FOIA applies to the City of London as a local authority, police
authority and port health authority.

The City of London holds the copyright in this email. The supply of this
does not give you a right to re-use the document in a way that would
infringe that copyright, for example, by making copies, publishing and
issuing copies to the public or to any other person. Brief extracts of any
of the material may be reproduced under the fair dealing provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (sections 29 and 30) for the
purposes of research for non-commercial purposes, private study,
criticism, review and news reporting, subject to an acknowledgement of the
copyright owner.

Yours sincerely,

City of London
[3]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk
Tel: 020-7332 1209

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Dear Mr Thackeray

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 (FOIA) - INFORMATION REQUEST

I write further to your request for information of 10 March 2010 (your
fifteenth), our acknowledgement of 11 March 2010 and our holding reply of
9 April 2010.

The City of London (CoL) apologises for the delay in responding to your
request but as you are aware the CoL has been dealing with your complaints
relating to your linked requests which have diverted significant resources
from officers' normal work and this has placed a significant burden on the
resources of the authority by both distracting the authority from its
normal business and in responding to your requests in a timely manner in
accordance with the authority's usual high standards.

The CoL has decided that your request is vexatious. The reasons are:

1. You have made over 100 requests to other public authorities
regarding the Church of Scientology (evidenced on the "What do they
know" website), including those which have been directed to this
authority since February 2009. We consider that it is reasonable to
conclude that this pattern illustrates that the requests are
obsessive, manifestly unreasonable and that this request to the CoL
is a continuation of the theme of previous requests, namely
information regarding the City Corporation's dealings with the
Church of Scientology. The Information Commissioner and
Information Tribunal have noted in previous decisions that it is
entirely appropriate to consider the request in the context of the
number, frequency, length and scope of previous correspondence,
whether information received in answer to one request has been used
to ask for further information or clarification in subsequent
requests, and to consider the aggregated effect of dealing with all
the requests known to have been made across the public sector
(refer EA/2007/0088, EA2007/0109, EA2007/0130, FS50151851,
FS50180689, FS50238979).

2. The broad and unfocussed scope of a number of your requests
which have required refinement, together with the volume of requests
made by you and the associated complaints to the Information
Commissioner and Information Tribunal, have imposed a significant burden
on the authority in terms of expense and distraction from our normal
business. The Information Commissioner's Awareness Guidance on the
subject of vexatious and repeated requests states that a public
authority needs to consider more than just the cost of compliance with
the request and needs to consider whether responding would divert or
distract staff from their usual work as would occur in responding to
your request. (Please bear in mind also that the `appropriate limit'
(provided for in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection
(Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004, where the cost ceiling,
called (as you will know) the 'appropriate limit', of £450, represents
18 hours work by one person equivalent at the statutory chargeable rate
of £25 an hour) only represents a fraction of the officer-hours it may
take to comply with a request, as exemptions also have to be considered,
and redaction / extractions and copies made.)

3. Your request for information relates to the pattern of requests
and existing complaints which remain under review together with your
linked requests to other public authorities regarding the Church of
Scientology and the City of London (e.g. to the Audit Commission on 12
April 2010 as a result of evidence given in your related complaint to
the Tribunal). These many requests and complaints relate directly or
indirectly to the CoL's decision to award mandatory rate relief to the
Church of Scientology Religious Education College Inc (COSREC). By your
own admission they manifest your clear intention to reopen issues that
have already been considered by the City and which currently remain
under review by the Commissioner and the Tribunal. In conclusion, with
regard to the above, we feel this request is designed to cause
disruption and annoyance.

In summary, complying with your numerous requests and complaints, in this
ongoing campaign has placed a significant burden in terms of expense and
distraction and diversion of officers from their normal work which cannot
be sustained by the authority. In accordance with the FOIA this response
acts as a Refusal Notice pursuant to section 14(1).

If you wish to make a complaint about the way the CoL has handled your
enquiry, please make your complaint in writing to email address:
[email address]. For a link to the CoL's FOI complaints
procedure, please visit the following page:
[1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Feedback, at the end of which is located the
FOI complaints procedure. If, having used the CoL's FOI Complaints
Procedure, you are still dissatisfied, you may request the Information
Commissioner to investigate. Please contact: Information Commissioner,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Telephone:
(01625) 545700. Website: [2]http://www.ico.gov.uk/.

Please note that the Act applies to the CoL as a local authority, police
authority and port health authority.

The CoL holds the copyright in this communication. The supply of it does
not give you a right to re-use it in a way that would infringe that
copyright, for example, by making copies, publishing and issuing copies to
the public or to any other person. Brief extracts of any of the material
may be reproduced under the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988 (sections 29 and 30) for the purposes of
research for non-commercial purposes, private study, criticism, review and
news reporting, subject to an acknowledgement of the copyright owner.

Yours sincerely,

City of London

Tel: 020-7332 1209

[3]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

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Dear Mr Thackeray,

Thank you for your email of 10 May 2010.

By this email, your request for a review is copied to our complaints
officer, who will log your complaint relating to your request of 10 March
2010. The City of London aims to respond to FOI complaints within 20
working days from the first working day after receiving the complaint.

Yours sincerely,

City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1209
[1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

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Dear Mr Thackeray,

We write further to your emails of 10 May 2010 requesting an internal
review of the City of London's decisions regarding your requests for
information. In light of the recent Tribunal decision (EA/2009/095) and
your related complaints currently with the Information Commissioner, the
City of London is unable to respond at this time but would hope to be in a
position to reply by the 6 July.

Yours sincerely,

Information Officer
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1209
[1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

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Dear Mr Thackeray,

Following our holding reply of 8 June 2010 we are unfortunately not in a
position to respond at this time as we remain in communication with the
Information Commissioner's Office regarding your related complaints. The
outcome of those matters, with reference to the Tribunal's decision in the
appeal EA/2009/095, will be relevant to our internal review. We are aware
that you have been awaiting our response for some time but these are
unusual circumstances and we will formally respond as soon as we can. We
will contact you again before 30 July.

Yours sincerely,

Information Officer
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1209
[1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

_____________________________________________
From: COL - EB - Information Officer
Sent: 08 June 2010 13:54
To: 'William Thackeray'; 'William Thackeray'
Subject: RE: FOI Complaints: Thackeray (6), (7) & (8), wef 11 May
2010

Dear Mr Thackeray,

We write further to your emails of 10 May 2010 requesting an internal
review of the City of London's decisions regarding your requests for
information. In light of the recent Tribunal decision (EA/2009/095) and
your related complaints currently with the Information Commissioner, the
City of London is unable to respond at this time but would hope to be in a
position to reply by the 6 July.

Yours sincerely,

Information Officer
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1209
[2]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

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Dear Mr Thackeray,

I write further to our earlier correspondence, copied below. We are still
in correspondence with the Information Commissioner's Office and are
unable to add anything further at this time. We will write further to
update you by the end of August.

Yours sincerely,

Information Officer
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1209
[1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

______________________________________________
From: COL - EB - Information Officer
Sent: 06 July 2010 16:11
To: 'William Thackeray'; 'William Thackeray'
Subject: FOI Complaints: Thackeray (6), (7) & (8), wef 11 May 2010

Dear Mr Thackeray,

Following our holding reply of 8 June 2010 we are unfortunately not in a
position to respond at this time as we remain in communication with the
Information Commissioner's Office regarding your related complaints. The
outcome of those matters, with reference to the Tribunal's decision in the
appeal EA/2009/095, will be relevant to our internal review. We are aware
that you have been awaiting our response for some time but these are
unusual circumstances and we will formally respond as soon as we can. We
will contact you again before 30 July.

Yours sincerely,

Information Officer
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1209
[2]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

_____________________________________________
From: COL - EB - Information Officer
Sent: 08 June 2010 13:54
To: 'William Thackeray'; 'William Thackeray'
Subject: RE: FOI Complaints: Thackeray (6), (7) & (8), wef 11 May
2010

Dear Mr Thackeray,

We write further to your emails of 10 May 2010 requesting an internal
review of the City of London's decisions regarding your requests for
information. In light of the recent Tribunal decision (EA/2009/095) and
your related complaints currently with the Information Commissioner, the
City of London is unable to respond at this time but would hope to be in a
position to reply by the 6 July.

Yours sincerely,

Information Officer
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1209
[3]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

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Dear Mr Thackeray

We write further to your emails dated 1 September. Until such time as the
Commissioner's Office takes its decision in respect of your related
complaints, the City of London will not be in a position to undertake the
internal reviews. As we have noted previously, we are aware that you have
been awaiting our responses for some time but these are unusual
circumstances and we will formally respond once we have received the
Commissioner's decisions.

Comptroller and City Solicitor's Department
City of London
020 7332 1633

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Dear Mr Thackeray,

We have been advised by the Information Commissioner that you have
referred this matter to their office for consideration as a complaint
(Ref: FS50347960).

You will be aware that we are currently dealing with your earlier
complaints to the IC and consistent with the IC's approach these have
been prioritised over your later complaints. You are also aware that we
have already published related information on the City of London's
website.

Yours sincerely,

Anne Pietsch
Public and Corporate Law
for Comptroller and City Solicitor
City of London, PO Box 270, Guildhall EC2P 2EJ
PH: 020 - 7332 1633 (direct line)
FAX: 020 - 7332 1992
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

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I am on annual leave from the 8-26 November and will return to work on the 29 November.

If the matter is urgent and cannot wait until my return, please contact Loretta Jennings on x 3698 or at [email address]

Thank you,

Anne Pietsch

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Dear Mr Thackeray,

I write with reference to your various emails requesting the City
Corporation provide you with a response in relation to the internal
review of your complaint. As we have already noted in previous
correspondence, you have referred this matter to the Information
Commissioner's Office. As your complaint is currently being considered
by them at your request the matter is now in the hands of the
Commissioner. We have nothing further to add at this time and we await
the Commissioner's decision. There seems to be little point in using
officer time in duplicating the process. All correspondence has been
forwarded to the Information Commissioner's Office.

Yours sincerely,
Ms Anne Pietsch
Comptroller & City Solicitor's Department
City of London
DD: 020 7332 1633

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