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British Government support for "Breaking the Silence" organisation
Guy Freeman made this Freedom of Information request to Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The request was partially successful.
From: Guy Freeman
30 July 2009
Dear Sir or Madam,
I would like you to make available, under the provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000, any documents, reports, emails and
minutes of meetings or other relevant materials of discussions,
correspondence or other business relating to the funding of the
Israeli NGO "Breaking the Silence", including but not limited to:
* The total amount of funding that was committed to, was planned to
be committed to, and/or was considered to be committed to the NGO
"Breaking the Silence";
* Discussions with the Israeli Government concerning British
governmental support for "Breaking the Silence";
* Correspondence and other discussions with the British Embassy in
Tel Aviv, or any other British diplomatic outpost, concerning
British governmental support for "Breaking the Silence";
* All correspondence concerning funding of "Breaking the Silence"
with the NGO itself and with any other organisations that are not
part of Her Majesty's Government or Civil Service.
Concerning the last point, note that I am not asking for internal
communications within the civil service not to be disclosed;
rather, I am making it clear that I require both internal and
external discussions and communications.
If there are any difficulties in fulfilling this request, please
get in touch with me so that I may make my request clearer.
I'm looking forward to as swift and comprehensive a response as
possible.
Yours faithfully,
Guy Freeman
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
31 July 2009
FOI Request, Ref: 0613-09
Dear
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request. It has been passed to the relevant section within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to deal with. They will be in touch with you should your request need clarification.
We received your request on 31 July 2009 and will aim to respond within 20 working days.
Yours Sincerely
Mark Lowen
Information Management Group
Information Rights Team
show quoted sections
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
11 August 2009
Mr Freeman,
Please find the attached response to your FOI request.
Yours sincerely,
Near East Group
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
***********************************************************************************
Visit [1]http://www.fco.gov.uk for British foreign policy news and travel
advice and [2]http://blogs.fco.gov.uk to read our blogs.
Please note that all messages sent and received by members of the Foreign
& Commonwealth Office and its missions overseas may be automatically
logged, monitored and/or recorded in accordance with the
Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of
Communications) Regulations 2000. We keep and use information in line with
the Data Protection Act 1998. We may release this personal information to
other UK government departments and public authorities.
***********************************************************************************
References
Visible links
1. http://www.fco.gov.uk/
2. http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/
From: Guy Freeman
11 August 2009
Dear Sir or Madam,
Thank you for your response. I am sorry to read that you think my
request falls foul of Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act
by dint of requesting too much information. I do not believe that
justifies the response I received, though.
Firstly, under Section 12 Subsection 2 of the Act, you are not
exempted from informing me whether you hold the information I ask
for, unless doing so would itself be excessively costly. Please
confirm if my understanding of the law is correct, and if so,
please comply with it forthwith.
Secondly, under Section 16 of the Act, you are required to provide
a reasonable amount of advice and assistance to me. Telling me to
pick particular dates for gathering information is not a reasonable
amount of advice. I want to find out, essentially, what level of
involvement the FCO has had and is and was planning to have with
the NGO "Breaking the Silence". What could I get within the time
and cost limits? I imagine that getting copies of all internal
emails discussing this NGO should be quick and cheap;
correspondence with the Israeli government on this topic would also
likely be easy to locate; ditto correspondence with the British
Embassy about them; and the same goes for copies of minutes of
meetings where the NGO was mentioned; of course all correspondence
between the FCO and "Breaking the Silence" should be easy to
gather; and the amount of funding for the NGO that has been given,
promised or planned can't be too hard to find. Is my assertion
correct? If so, please supply all of these items to begin with, and
we'll see whether it is enough information.
I look forward to your positive response.
Yours faithfully,
Guy Freeman
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
17 August 2009
Dear Mr Freeman
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request. It has been passed to
the relevant section within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to deal
with. They will be in touch with you should your request need
clarification.
We received your request on 11 August 2009 and will aim to respond within
20 working days.
Yours sincerely
Jackie Till
Information Rights
Information Management Group | Information & Technology Directorate |
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
email: [1][FCO request email]
... visit our blogs at [2]http://blogs.fco.gov.uk
***********************************************************************************
Visit [3]http://www.fco.gov.uk for British foreign policy news and travel
advice and [4]http://blogs.fco.gov.uk to read our blogs.
Please note that all messages sent and received by members of the Foreign
& Commonwealth Office and its missions overseas may be automatically
logged, monitored and/or recorded in accordance with the
Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of
Communications) Regulations 2000. We keep and use information in line with
the Data Protection Act 1998. We may release this personal information to
other UK government departments and public authorities.
***********************************************************************************
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[FCO request email]
2. http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/
3. http://www.fco.gov.uk/
4. http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
8 September 2009
Dear Mr Freeman,
Please find attached a response to your FOI request.
Yours sincerely,
Near East North Africa Correspondence Team
***********************************************************************************
Visit [1]http://www.fco.gov.uk for British foreign policy news and travel
advice and [2]http://blogs.fco.gov.uk to read our blogs.
Please note that all messages sent and received by members of the Foreign
& Commonwealth Office and its missions overseas may be automatically
logged, monitored and/or recorded in accordance with the
Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of
Communications) Regulations 2000. We keep and use information in line with
the Data Protection Act 1998. We may release this personal information to
other UK government departments and public authorities.
***********************************************************************************
References
Visible links
1. http://www.fco.gov.uk/
2. http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/
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