British Armed Forces Day

Thank you for your recent email. A reply will be sent to you as soon as
possible (where a response is required). For information, the
departmental standard for correspondence received is that responses
should be sent within 15 working days or 20 working days if you are
requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act 20000.

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number
2009/0045420.

Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
http://www.dius.gov.uk/index.htm

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Simpson,
Thank you for your email of 5 May asking about Armed Forces Day.
This Department was informed by the Ministry of Defence about Armed Forces
Day.

My understanding is that no guidance has been sent by this Department to
universities in England about the day. Universities in other parts of the
United Kingdom come under their respective Devolved Administrations.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote our reference number in any future communications.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision,
you should write to me within two calendar months of the date of this
letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our complaints/review
procedure.

Yours sincerely,

David Gregson
STUDENT FINANCE POLICY DIVISION

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0045420.

show quoted sections

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

Thank you for your recent email. A reply will be sent to you as soon as
possible (where a response is required). For information, the
departmental standard for correspondence received is that responses
should be sent within 15 working days or 20 working days if you are
requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number
2009/0048118.

Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
http://www.dius.gov.uk/index.htm

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Simpson,
Thank you for your FOI request dated 29 May 2009 about Armed Forces Day.

I am sorry for the delay, but we will reply in full to your request very
shortly.
Yours sincerely,

David Gregson

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0048118.

show quoted sections

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

Dear Mr Simpson,

Further to my email of 29 June 2009, regarding our response to your
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoIA) request (reference 2009/0048118),
concerning the first British Armed Forces Day , I committed to keep you
informed if any further delays were likely.

I am writing to let you know that following the machinery of Government
changes affecting the former DIUS, we are still awaiting responses from
involved third parties and estimate that it will take an additional 5-10
days to receive such advice in order to provide you with a final response.
Therefore, we plan to provide you with a response by 31 July 2009 at the
latest.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote our reference number in any future communications.
Yours sincerely,

David Gregson
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

show quoted sections

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

Dear Mr Simpson,

Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) dated 29
May 2009. I am sorry for the delay in providing a substantive reply.

In reference to your previous request of 5 May 2009 (ref. 2009/0045420), you have
requested the release of documents or communications the Department received from the
Ministry of Defence on the subject of Armed Forces Day. You have also requested details
of the job titles of the people in the Department who were sent documents or
communications.

I can confirm that the Secretary of State for Defence wrote to the Prime Minister to
inform him of the plans for Armed Forces Day, and copied his letter to Cabinet
colleagues.

This communication is being withheld under section 35(1)(b) of the Act, which allows for
the withholding of communications between Ministers. There is a well established
principle for withholding ministerial correspondence, and this is established within
s.35(1)(b) of the Act. In the context of this exemption, `communications' include
written correspondence in any form, such as email, memoranda and ministerial
submissions. S35(5) defines the extent of ministerial communications as communications
between Ministers of the Crown, between Northern Ireland Ministers, or between Assembly
Secretaries.

The role of Ministers includes:

* Setting and directing the policy agenda of central government;

* Political functions in representing the interests of their; departments in
Cabinet, Parliament, the EU Council;

* High level managerial tasks in relation to the running of their departments; and

* Executive decision making.

Legally and politically, government Ministers are at the core of central government as
most legal power to conduct the business of central government rests with individual
Ministers.

In applying section 35(1)(b), the Act requires that the Department balances the public
interest in withholding the information against the public interest in disclosing the
information. We concluded that the public interest in maintaining the exemption and not
disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in disclosure in this instance.

A consideration that may weigh in favour of a decision to disclose is the fact that
Ministers' decisions have a significant impact on the lives of citizens and there is a
public interest in their deliberations being transparent.

Considerations that may weigh against a decision to disclose information include:

Collective responsibility is a constitutional convention which is described in the
Ministerial Code (available at:
[1]http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/propriet...)
as follows:

* 'Collective responsibility requires that Ministers should be able to express
their views frankly in the expectation that they can argue freely in private
while maintaining a united front when decisions have been made. This in turn
requires that the privacy of opinions expressed in Cabinet and Ministerial
Committees, including in correspondence, should be maintained'. If Ministers feel
inhibited from being frank and candid with one another because of the risk of
subsequent disclosure, the quality of debate behind the collective decision will
be diminished; and

* Ultimate responsibility for government decisions lies in the Cabinet. Collective
responsibility seeks to ensure that decisions do not become personalised.

However, significant elements of the letter, relevant to your request, are readily
available elsewhere, and as provided for by s.21 of the Act (Information accessible to
applicant by other means), and under s.16 (duty to provide advice and assistance) I am
happy to provide the following links:

[2]http://www.armedforcesday.org.uk/News/fi... -"Plans for
the first ever national Armed Forces Day to honour the UK's Service personnel, past,
present and future, were launched by Veterans Minister, Kevan Jones in Chatham, Kent,
today Thursday 22 January 2009..."

[3]http://www.armedforcesday.org.uk/docs/AF... - Armed Forces Day
Background.

[4]http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa... -
Column WS175, Ministerial Statement.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please remember to quote
the reference number below in any future communications.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and
wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision, you should write to me
within two calendar months of the date of this letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the
Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, however, the ICO cannot make a
decision unless you have already exhausted the Department's complaints procedure.
Yours sincerely,

David Gregson
Department for Business, Innovation & Skills

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0048118.

show quoted sections

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/propriet...
2. http://www.armedforcesday.org.uk/News/fi...
3. http://www.armedforcesday.org.uk/docs/AF...
4. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa...