Dear Sir or Madam,

Under the Freedom of Information Act, please release all papers
relating to meetings within the department and with the Chinese
Government, which discussed the Olympic Torch relay.

Yours faithfully,

Ben Thomas

Dear Mr Thomas

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 07 April 2008 and will aim to respond within 20 working days.

Yours

Lynsey Hughes

Information Management Group
Information Rights Team

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Dear Mr Thomas,

Thank you for your request for information, which we received on 6 April.

The FOI Act obliges us to respond to requests promptly and in any case no later than 20 working days after receiving your request. However, when a qualified exemption is engaged and the public interest test is being considered, the Act allows the time for response to be longer than 20 working days, and a full response must be provided within such time as is reasonable in all circumstances of the case. We do, of course, aim to make all decisions within 20 working days, including in cases where we need to consider where the public interest lies in respect of a request. In this case, however, we have not yet reached a decision on where the balance of the public interest test lies.

In your case we estimate that it will take an additional 20 working days to take a decision on where the balance of the public interest lies. Therefore, we plan to let you have a response by 3 June. If it appears that it will take longer than this to reach a conclusion, we will keep you informed.

The specific exemption which is engaged in relation to your request is section 27(1) of the Freedom of Information Act. Section 27(1)(a) of the FOIA recognises the need to protect information that would be likely to prejudice relations between the United Kingdom and other states if it was disclosed. In this case, the release of information could harm our relations with China.

If you have any queries about this email, please contact me. Please remember to quote the reference number above 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 at the above address. You have 40 working days to do so.

If you are not content with the outcome of that internal review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaint procedure provided by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

The Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Best Regards,

Katrine Sasaki

Open Government Liaison Officer

Far Eastern Group

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

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Dear Mr Thomas

Please see attached letter with reference to your Freedom of Information request.

Many thanks

Patrick Hopkins
Deputy Open Government Liaison Officer
Far Eastern Group
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London Whitehall
SW1A 2AH

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