British Armed Forces Day

Dear Mr. Simpson
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request of 6th May 2008
requesting information relating to 'British Armed Forces Day.
You have asked for
'Any documentation relating to the day. Contact with MoD or media'.
Please note that your request has been dealt with under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. Under the Act, you have the right to:
· know whether we hold the information you require
· be provided with that information, unless the information is
considered exempt from disclosure under the Act.

I can confirm that the Department for Culture Media and Sport holds some
information relating to your request. Unfortunately some of the
information that you are looking for is covered by an exemption.
Section 37(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act relates to
communications with Her Majesty, with other members of the Royal Family or
with the Royal Household.

When this exemption is applied, we are required to consider whether it is
in the public interest to release the information you have requested. It
may be that we decide that the public interest would not be served by
releasing the information, in which case we will explain why. We will let
you know the result of this by 2nd July 2009 but aim to respond as soon as
possible.

If you are unhappy with the way DCMS has handled your request you are
entitled to ask for an internal review of its handling within two calendar
months of the date of this letter. If you wish to make a complaint you
should contact
FOI Central Team,
Public Engagement and Recognition Unit,
Department for Culture, Media and Sport,
2-4 Cockspur Street, London,
SW1Y 5DH
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information
Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF.

You have the right to ask the Information Commissioner (ICO) to
investigate any aspect of your complaint. Please note that the ICO is
likely to expect internal complaints procedures to have been exhausted
before beginning his investigation.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance.

Kind regards

Saira Tariq

Freedom of Information Case manager
Freedom of Information Team
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
2-4 Cockspur Street
London
SW1Y 5DH
Telephone: 020 7211 6192

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Hello Mr Simpson,

Unfortunately our FoI team has recently lost a few members of staff, one of whom was dealing with both of your request. One of these requests is the above mentioned (CASE:117057), and the other is a clarification you sent regarding national identity (CASE:119106). I can confirm that both your requests have already been picked up by another member of our team and our consultation process is still ongoing in both.

We will try to get a response to you no later than 18 September 2009 on both of your requests, and I sincerely apologise for the delay in getting this information to you.

Regards,

Stephen Bell

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Our Ref: 117057

Dear Mr. Simpson

Thank you for your request of 6^th May asking for any documentation we may
hold regarding British Armed Forces Day. Please accept my apologies for
the delay created by the breadth of consultation undertaken in this case.

We are dealing with your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
('the Act'). Under the Act, you have the right to:
. know whether we hold the information you require
. be provided with that information (subject to any exemptions under
the Act which might apply).

You requested the following:

1) All documents held by this department on the first British Armed Forces
Day to be held on the 27th of June 2009.
2) Has this department received any communications from the Ministry of
Defence on this matter and has any information or advice been given out to
media organisations from this department to promote the first Armed Forces
Day in the national media?

Please see below for the documents we hold in relation to your request.

Extract Information

The attachment below is comprised of information within the scope of your
request, sourced from two larger documents regarding Chatham Historic
Dockyard, which, apart from the extracts provided, are irrelevant to your
request.

Communication with the Ministry of Defence

After a thorough search of our records I can confirm that we hold some
information within the scope of your request.

Email Chains

The attached email chains below concern flag flying during the celebration
on government buildings. Please note that contact details of junior civil
servants and their names within the attached documents have been redacted
in line with section 40 (Personal Information) of the Act.

Letter from John Hutton on Armed Forces Day

The below letter was copied to the Secretary of State for DCMS.

Please note that with regards to the second part of your second query `any
information or advice been given out to media organisations from this
department to promote the first Armed Forces Day in the national media?'
DCMS does not hold information in relation to this section of your
request.

If you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact
me.

Kind regards
Stephen Bell
Freedom of Information Team
Public Engagement and Recognition Unit

Complaints and comments

As is customary in our replies, I would like to explain that if you are
dissatisfied with any aspect of our response to your request for
information and/or wish to appeal against information being withheld from
you please send full details within two calendar months of the date of
this letter to:

FOI Team
Public Engagement and Recognition Unit
Department for Culture Media and Sport
2-4 Cockspur Street, London,
SW1Y 5DH

You have the right to ask the Information Commissioner (ICO) to
investigate any aspect of your complaint. Please note that the ICO is
likely to expect internal complaints procedures to have been exhausted
before beginning his investigation.

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