Alex Salmond

Dear Sir or Madam,

Under the Freedom of Information Act please can you provide me with
any documents or communications made between the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office and the Scottish Executive or the Scotland
Office over First Minister Alex Salmond and his recent visit to the
United States of America.

The Scotland Act which created the role of First Minister made
clear that International relations and foreign affairs remain a
reserved matter. Has the FCO tried to remind Mr Salmond that he is
not the president of Scotland and when he goes abroad spreading his
separatist agenda he should not be using his position as First
Minister for such a task. Has the First Minister violated any rules
by his recent actions?

Finally please inform me under the Freedom of Information Act if
there was at least 1 British Official from the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office / British Embassy at the meeting between First
Minister Alex Salmond and the United States Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton.

Yours faithfully,

John Simpson

Dear Michael Grace,

Thank you for your update on my Freedom of Information request
(0172-09) and the reason for why it will take longer to provide an
answer to it. My original request was clearly too wide open and
might apply to many documents which I am not really after and would
probably be the ones which are difficult to decide if they should
be released or not.

For that reason if it is helpful I would like to clarify my request
for the specific questions I would like answered rather than
requesting all documents and communications available to be
released. These are the questions,

Who originally requested the meeting between the American Secretary
of State (or a State Department official) and the First Minister of
Scotland take place? Was it the Foreign and Commonwealth Office,
The Scottish Executive, the Scotland Office or the United States
Department of State?

Was the Scotland Office consulted or informed the meeting would be
taking place?

Was the Foreign and Commonwealth Office / British Embassy
responsible for arranging the meeting between the First Minister
and U.S Secretary of State?

Was someone from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office / British
Embassy present at all times in the meeting between the First
Minister and U.S Secretary of State?

Finally, was the issue of Scottish independence mentioned at any
time in the meeting between the two?

These are the five questions I am trying to find an answer to, if
it is possible for you to answer some or all of the above questions
then that would provide all the information I am looking for and
there would be no need to release any or all of the documents /
communications made between the different departments I mentioned
in my original request.

I hope this clarification makes it easier for you to respond to my
Freedom of Information request.

Thank you again

John Simpson

Dear Gavin Crockard,

Thank you for the answers in your response to my updated Freedom of
Information Request, it provided me with all the information i was
seeking.

Thanks again for your help on this matter.

Yours sincerely,

John Simpson