Dear Sir or Madam,

Under the Freedom of Information Act can you please confirm if the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office or British Embassies around the
world attempt to inform foreign press when mistakes are made about
the United Kingdom and its government.

In particular, does our embassy in the United States of America
ever seek to correct American press when they incorrectly call Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II the "Queen of England". There has not
been a "Queen of England" for over 300 years since the formation of
the Kingdom of Great Britain. Whilst this may of been allowed to
continue in the past, in the 21st century with the growing
separatist threat in Scotland and Wales how can this department
responsible for representing the British people overseas allow such
mistakes to continue which cause deep offence and aid the
separatist cause without even trying to educate foreign press or
correct them?

If the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is not prepared to correct
such major international organisations which should know better,
Who is responsible??

Yours faithfully,

John Simpson

Dear John

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 01 June 2009 and will aim to respond within 20
working days.

Yours sincerely

Bruce
Information Rights
Information Management Group | Information & Technology Directorate |
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
email: [FCO request email]
... visit our blogs at [1]http://blogs.fco.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Simpson,

Please find our response to your request 0438-09 submitted to the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office.

Yours sincerely,

The Information Rights Team
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office

| Information Management Group| FOI-DPA Information Rights Team | Old
Admiralty Building | SG/124 | London | SW1A 2PA |

( telephone: 020 7008 0123

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office holds and uses data for purposes
notified to the Information Commissioner under the Data Protection Act
1998 (which may be consulted at www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk ).
Such personal data may be disclosed to other UK Government departments and
public Authorities.

***********************************************************************************
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/

Dear Sir or Madam,

Thank you for your response to my freedom of information request
(0438-09). The link provided was useful however i notice it does
not correct people on the issue i mentioned which is a commonly
made mistake by Media / people in the United States of America.

I understand that resources are limited to correcting foreign press
however getting the title of our monarch wrong is a pretty big
mistake and it is repeated every time the Queen is mentioned by
most if not all American media organisations.

I will redefine my request as my previous email was not clear
enough to fall within the act.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, does the British Embassy in
the United States of America hold any records of corrections to
American media organisations (Such as Fox News, CNN, CBS, ABC)
regarding use of the term "Queen of England" when talking about Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

There has not been a "Queen of England" for over 300 years as far
as im aware, why doesn't the FCO feel its important to correct such
major mistakes in reporting of our Monarch.

Yours sincerely,

John Simpson

Dear Sir or Madam,

I would like an update on my freedom of information request
(0438-09). I did receive a reply however i sent a follow up email
because i did not receive the information i was seeking. That was
over a month ago, so i need to find out if i need to send a new FOI
instead.

Thanks

Yours faithfully,

John Simpson

Dear Mr Simpson

Thank you for your email below. I am sorry that you did not receive a reply to your follow up email. You can submit a new FOI request by responding to this email address.

Yours Sincerely

Mark Lowen
Information Management Group

show quoted sections

Dear Sir or Madam,

Under the Freedom of Information Act, does the British Embassy in
the United States of America hold any records of corrections to
American media organisations (Such as Fox News, CNN, CBS, ABC)
regarding use of the term "Queen of England" when talking about Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Yours faithfully,

John Simpson

Dear Mr Simpson

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 02 September 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: [FCO request email]
... visit our blogs at http://blogs.fco.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Simpson,

Please find enclosed our response to your FOI request 0725-09.

Yours sincerely,

The information Rights Team

The 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/

Dear Sir or Madam,

I have received a response to my freedom of information request
0725-09 stating that my request has been refused because it is a
"similar request" (0438-09) to one i have made previously. This is
partly true, the reason i submitted it again was for two reasons,
the first response to my FOI request did not answer the specific
question i asked for so I then sent a follow up message (relating
to that FOI request), and i was told to submit a new FOI request,
which is what i did, asking one specific question, which has now
been refused on the grounds id already made a previous request
along the same lines.

Just to avoid confusion, i will timeline the messages i have sent
and received on this matter as clearly several people have been
handling my case.

1 JUNE 2009 - I sent my original request, this included a general
question if Foreign press is corrected when mistakes are made,
specific mention of the USA, and a general question about who is
responsible if this department isn't.

1 JUNE 2009 - Confirmation my request had been received.

17 JUNE 2009 - Response to my FOI request was received and given
the code "0438-09". The response stated efforts are taken to
correct serious factual inaccuracies but there are limited
resources.

29 JUNE 2009 - As the original response didn't provide the
information i was after I sent a follow up email, redefining my
request to the specific issue of if the US embassy holds any
records of correcting American media organisations on use of the
term "Queen of England"

31 AUGUST 2009 - I sent a follow up email asking for an update on
my request stating the ref code given "0438-09".

1 SEPTEMBER 2009 - I receive an email from Mark Lowen saying sorry
that no reply was sent to my followup email and clearly stating i
should submit a new FOI request.

2 SEPTEMBER 2009 - I submit a clear and simple FOI request.

3 SEPTEMBER 2009 - Confirmation my request has been received

11 SEPTEMBER 2009 - I receive a response to my FOI request and it
is given the new code "0725-09". The reply states because i have
previous made a similar request, it has no obligation to answer it.
Another exemption mentioned is cost and the fact my request was too
"widely-framed".

I hope this has cleared up the issue of my "previous request" so
that is no longer a reason for declining my request. If i redefined
my request further to just the period of January 2009 to June 2009
perhaps this would also make responding to my request easier and
within the costs allowed by the FOI act.

Yours faithfully,

John Simpson

Dear Mr Simpson

Thank you for your email. Can I clarify that the request you wish to
submit is records held by the British Embassy in Washington on occasions
when they have corrected American media organisations on the use of the
term "Queen of England" between January 2009 to June 2009. If this is so
can you please respond to this email so that we can begin to process this
request.

Yours Sincerely

Mark Lowen
Information Management Group

show quoted sections

Dear Mark Lowen,

Yes, that is the information i am seeking. I suspect that there
have not been any such cases and so no records exist, but i would
just like to be sure and if there have been such occasions then id
like those records released.

Thank you

Yours faithfully,

John Simpson

Dear Mr Simpson

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 01 October 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: [FCO request email]
... visit our blogs at http://blogs.fco.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Simpson

Please find a response to your recent enquiry under the Freedom of
Information Act attached.

Regards

Mark Woodham
North America Team
Tel: 0207 008 2664

***********************************************************************************
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/