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Michael McCarthy made this Freedom of Information request to Cabinet Office
The request was refused by Cabinet Office.
From: Michael McCarthy
28 January 2009
Dear Sir or Madam,
I would like to see the documents which specify which out of the
five questions -
• Can the request be seen as obsessive?
• Is the request tantamount to harassing the authority or causing
distress to staff?
• Would complying with the request impose a significant burden?
• Is the request designed to cause disruption or annoyance?
• Does the request lack any serious purpose or value?
- drawn up by the Office of the Information Commissioner for
judging whether a FoI request might reasonably be judged
"vexatious" was deemed to justify refusing to release papers
generated by an earlier FoI request for the records of exchanges
between Tony Blair and Rupert Murdoch.
Yours etc.,
Michael McCarthy
Cabinet Office
30 January 2009
Dear Mr McCarthy,
Thank you for your email. The Cabinet Office has completed an internal
review of your request as you asked. If you remain unhappy with the
handling of your internal review request for information you have the
right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.
Details for contacting the Information Commissioner were provided in
your internal review response. However, for your ease of reference I
have provided them again below:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Kind Regards,
Rebecca Kingston
Freedom of Information Team
Cabinet Office
show quoted sections
From: Michael McCarthy
3 February 2009
Dear Sir or Madam,
If there exists any justification in the FoI Act for this implicit
refusal by the Cabinet Office to disclose, as requested, which of
the five admissible grounds for declaring an information request
"vexatious" was deemed to apply in my case, I invite you to cite
it. Otherwise, I expect you to respond to my question, as is my
right under the FoI Act, and specify precisely which of these five
grounds you propose to rely on.
Yours etc.
Michael McCarthy
Cabinet Office
4 February 2009
Dear Mr McCarthy,
Thank you for your email. However, as I said in my previous email the
Cabinet Office has carried out an internal review, and if you remain
unhappy with the response you should take your complaint up with the
ICO. I do not have anything further to add to the response to your
internal review.
Regards,
Rebecca Kingston
Freedom of Information Team
Cabinet Office
show quoted sections
From: Michael McCarthy
9 February 2009
Dear Sir or Madam,
I have been in contact with the Information Commissioner's Office,
and have been assured that there is no reason why I should not be
given clarification of the grounds on which an information request
is deemed "vexatious".
Presumably some specific ground, rather than the mere intent as
previously to stonewall a legitimate request, was in the mind of
someone at the Cabinet Office when this request was so deemed. If
so, kindly disclose it without further delay, and then we can all
judge how plausible it appears.
Yours etc.,
Michael McCarthy
Cabinet Office
17 February 2009
Mr McCarthy,
The Cabinet Office has nothing further to add to the internal review
response provided to you. If you are not content with the Cabinet
Office's response please contact the Information Commissioner's Office
(ICO) directly.
The ICO can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Regards,
Rebecca Kingston
Freedom of Information Team
Cabinet Office
show quoted sections
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