AR5 WGI First Order Drafts

The request was refused by Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Dear Department of Energy and Climate Change,

[1] Please supply me with a copy of the First Order Draft of each of the 14 chapters of the Working Group One contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report.

Please note that Principle 2 of the Principles Governing IPCC Work requires that the assessment process be open and transparent.

Please also note that Appendix A to Principles Governing IPCC work states in paragraph 4.2.4.1,

"The first draft Reports should be sent to Government Focal Points, for information, along with a list of those to whom the Report has been sent for review in that country."

[2] Please supply the list of those in the UK to whom the report has been sent for review.

[3] Please supply me with a copy of the notice from the IPCC WGI providing these drafts to DECC, or advising of their availability to DECC.

[4] Please supply me full information of any consideration of DECC's duties under EIR regulation 4 in respect of these drafts and the list of reviewers.

[5] Please supply me with a copy of your written departmental procedures for conformance with EIR regulation 4.

Yours faithfully,

David Holland

FOI Requests,

DECC Ref: 11/1726

Dear Mr Holland

Thank you for your request for information which was received on 27
December 2011.

Your request has been passed on to the appropriate official at the
Department of Energy and Climate Change to deal with.

Your request is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 and will be responded at the latest by 26 January
2012.

If you have any queries about this email, please contact the information
rights unit at BIS who have a shared service when dealing with requests
for DECC. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any
future communications.

Kind regards,
Information Rights Unit

Security and Information Rights Unit | Department for Business,
Innovation & Skills | [email address] | Victoria 3, 5th
Floor, 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H OET | www.bis.gov.uk | BIS have a
shared service level agreement with DECC to process and advise on their
FOI requests

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is making a
difference by supporting sustained growth and higher skills across the
economy. BIS: working together for growth

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FOI Requests,

3 Attachments

Dear Mr Holland
 
Please see the attached letter relating to your information
request received on 27 December 2011.
 
Best regards,
Information  Rights Unit
 
Information Rights Unit (DECC Shared Service) | Department for Business,
Innovation & Skills | 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET
| [1]www.decc.gov.uk | [2]www.bis.gov.uk

 

 

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Dear Department of Energy and Climate Change,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department of Energy and Climate Change's handling of my FOI request 'AR5 WGI First Order Drafts'.

I shall be content with a review of the first item only of my request for the disclosure of the first order drafts (FODs). In connection with this regulation 11 request I have just submitted a number of detailed questions via whatdotheyknow.com that I would ask you take into consideration, as well the matters I will mention below.

1. The Principles Governing IPCC Work have required since 1993 that the IPCC assessment process be open and transparent. No amendment has been made to these Principles since they were last reviewed in 2006. No recommendation for any change to them was made by the InterAcademy Council’s Review of IPCC procedures established by the UN Secretary General. No proposal has since 2006 been put before the IPCC to make any change to its Principles.

2. In 2002 Sir John Houghton who had chaired the WGI contributions to the first three IPCC Assessment Reports published the following clear statement as one of five important features which he believed “should characterize the scientific assessments that form an input to policy making.”

“Thirdly, all parts of the assessment process need to be completely open and transparent. IPCC documents including early drafts and review comments have been freely and widely available - adding much to the credibility of the process and its conclusions.”

3. In March 2007, both David Miliband and Lord Rooker referring to the IPCC process stated on the record “Objectivity is ensured by the broad and open review process”.

4. The Appendix A to the Principles Governing IPCC work were considered and modified at the 34th Session of the IPCC 18-19 November 2011. However the modified version issued on 10 January 2012 continue to state as they have for many years:

“4.3.4 Review
Three principles governing the review should be borne in mind. First, the best possible scientific and technical advice should be included so that the IPCC Reports represent the latest scientific, technical and socio-economic findings and are as comprehensive as possible. Secondly, a wide circulation process, ensuring representation of independent experts (i.e. experts not involved in the preparation of that particular chapter) from developing and developed countries and countries with economies in transition should aim to involve as many experts as possible in the IPCC process. Thirdly, the review process should be objective, open and transparent.”

5. However at the end of section 4.2 of Appendix A there is now a statement that entirely contradicts the long standing “Principles Governing IPCC Work” and section 4.3.4 of the latest revised Appendix A. This resulted from representations made by Professor Philip Jones from 2008 onwards to Professor Thomas Stocker. It was not something that the InterAcademy Council even hinted at, but was nonetheless improperly slipped into an unpublished document presented at the 33rd Session of the IPCC, which purported to contain only IAC recommendations and changes proposed at the 32 Session of the IPCC.

6. Appendix A states that these drafts and the review comments on them will be released to the public but only well after a Summary for Policymakers and the final version of the Assessment Report are accepted by representatives of governments of the world as the official view of the IPCC. This means that there is nothing that is actually confidential or not intended for publication but that the intention is solely to deny the public access to any information on the IPCC decision making process until after the decision is made – an obvious breach of the Aarhus Convention if any of its parties permit it to happen.

7. The drafts are available now to any person in the world who is willing to accept the improper confidentiality terms that are now being demanded by Working Group One. While there is a theoretical requirement for relevant expertise to review the drafts the primary qualification to have access to them is one of accepting confidentiality until it is too late to raise an effective complaint in public over the IPCC process, which has no oversight independent of the writing teams or independent complaints procedure.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ar...

Yours faithfully,

David Holland

FOI Requests,

DECC Ref: IR/11/1726

 
Dear Mr Holland,

Thank you for your request for an internal review which was received on 30
January 2012. Your request has been passed on to the appropriate official
at the Department of Energy and Climate Change to deal with.

In line with the Information Commissioner's guidance, internal reviews
should be responded to within 20 working days unless they are complex, in
which case a response should be sent within 40 working days. Please be
aware that this does not include weekends and bank holidays. The
Department of Energy and Climate Change aims to respond to requests for
internal reviews as quickly as possible.  We hope to be in contact with
you again shortly with a decision on your request.  

If you have any queries about this email, please contact the information
rights unit at BIS who have a shared service when dealing with requests
for DECC. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any
future communications.

Kind regards,
Information Rights Unit

Security and Information Rights Unit | Department for Business, Innovation
& Skills | [1][email address] | Victoria 3, 5th Floor, 1
Victoria Street, London, SW1H OET | [2]www.bis.gov.uk | BIS have a shared
service level agreement with DECC to process and advise on their FOI
requests

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is making a
difference by supporting sustained growth and higher skills across the
economy. BIS: working together for growth

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Hollinshead Paul (Strategy Evidence Group), Department of Energy and Climate Change

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Holland.

Please find my response to your request for an internal review (EIR
12/0134).

Regards,

Paul Hollinshead <<SDIR Internal Review 111727 Submission - David Holland
FINALphcomms.doc>>

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