Dear Sir or Madam,

I am trying to find information on how the pricing model for
Companies House Direct and WebCHeck was created. Can you please
explain when the current pricing came into effect, and how it was
arrived at (e.g. if it is cost-based or market-based, what research
went into the decision, etc)

If any reports or presentations or equivalent were generated or
commissioned as part of this process, I would ask that these be
made available.

If there are other pricing options for electronic supply of company
documents beyond the simple Companies House Direct and WebCHeck
systems detailed on your website (e.g. for partners/resellers/bulk
purchases), please also detail these and consider them included in
the above request.

Yours faithfully,

Richard

Dear Mr Jackson

Thank you for your email. I will deal with your request as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely

Mrs Judith Chainey
Information Rights Team
Companies House
Tel 02920 380616

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Dear Mr Jackson

I refer to your freedom of information request received on 8 July 2008
regarding the ‘Determination of Pricing for Provision of Documents’

Companies House does not have a specific pricing model for Companies
House Direct and Webcheck. However, I have attached a copy of the
latest Pricing Review undertaken on Companies House pricing which also
contains the Companies House ‘Principles of Cost Allocation’.

The Report was completed in June 2004 and the current pricing dates
from February 2005. You will see that some parts of the Report have been
redacted as the information contained in these areas is deemed to be
exempt under Part II of the Freedom of Information Act and, wherever
possible, the exemption that applies to each area has been cited.

Some information redacted under section 43(2), commercial interests,
will also fall under section 35, formulation of Government policy.
Information covered by these exemptions is of a sensitive nature and
could prejudice the commercial interests of Companies House. The
intention of the Report was to review past and current procedures and
make recommendations for the future. Parts of the Report have also
been redacted on reliance on the exemption under section 42 of the Act,
as the information detailed legal advice and as such would fall under
professional legal privilege. Information has also been removed from
the Report that would identify individual people, as departmental advice
requires that only senior civil servants identities should be disclosed.

I hope that the information in this email and the attached Report will
answer the questions in your freedom of information request, but if you
have any queries please contact me quoting the reference number above.

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
response, you should write to me, within two calendar months of the date
of this letter, and I will ensure that it is forwarded to a senior
member of Companies House who has had no previous involvement in this
case and they will undertake the review.

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 the
complaints procedure provided by us. The Information Commissioner can be
contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely

Mrs Judith Chainey
Information Rights Team
Companies House

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Dear Judith,

Thank you for your response, and for the document provided. It is
very interesting and goes a long way towards answering my
questions. However, I would ask that an internal review be carried
out in this matter, with particular regard to the large amount of
material redacted.

It may be that great care was taken in each case to properly weigh
the exemption claimed and consider whether or not there was a
compelling reason to override the public interest, but I see no
evidence of this. Either way the information you have provided
falls well short of explaining why you believe the exemption will
apply in each case.

Whilst I am willing to accept that _some_ of the information
contained in this report might be exempt, I find it difficult to
believe that _all_ the information redacted should have been.

Yours sincerely,

Richard

Dear Mr Jackson

Thank you for your email. I will be in touch shortly regarding your request for an internal review.

Yours sincerely

Mrs Judith Chainey
Information Rights Team
Companies House

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Dear Mr Jackson

With reference to your email of 6 August 2008 regarding your request for an internal review specifically with regard to the large amount of material that had been redacted from the document previously disclosed to you.
I should explain that the redactions in this document were made as a result of a previous request made under freedom of information legislation. In response to your request, the Information Rights Team has now reviewed the document. Due to the length of time that has passed since the Pricing Review was conducted, the nature of the contents of the Report and the fact that Companies House is due to revisit the whole issue of fees shortly, it has been decided that we can release some information that had previously been redacted.

I have attached a copy of the Report with these redactions removed and hope that you will find this information useful. I should point out that this review process was conducted by the Information Rights Team so if you still consider that the remaining exemptions are not appropriate or fully explained then I would remind you of your right to request an internal review, as detailed in my previous correspondence, of the document now released.

Yours sincerely

Mrs Judith Chainey
Information Rights Team

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Dear Judith,

Thank you for this new version of the document. However, I would
like to repeat my prior request for an internal review, as the
information provided still falls considerably short of showing that
the exceptions claimed are fair in each case, particularly in
relation to having weighed up the public interest in each.

Thanks,

Richard

Dear Mr Jackson

Thank you for your email.

I will arrange for an internal review to be undertaken by a senior member of Companies House who will be in touch as soon as possible with the result.

Yours sincerely

Mrs Judith Chainey
Information Rights Team
Companies House

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Dear Mr Jackson
I am writing to you on behalf of our director Mr Tim Moss, who is currently undertaking the internal review of your previous Freedom of Information Request.

Please accept his apologies for the delay, but he expects to be able to respond to you by the end of this week.

Yours sincerely

Mrs C Harnett
Information Rights Team

This message and any attachments are intended for the persons named as addressees only and may contain confidential information. In addition they may be protected by copyright.

If you receive it in error, notify us, delete it and do not make use of or copy it. You must not copy, disseminate or otherwise distribute or publish this message, except for the purposes for which this message is intended, without our consent.

Please note that this e-mail has been created in the knowledge that Internet e-mail is not a 100% secure communications medium. We advise that you understand and accept this lack of security when e-mailing us.

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From the Director of Corporate Strategy

Companies House
Crown Way
Cardiff
CF14 3UZ

Ref FOI 69/07/08

Dear Mr Jackson

Thank you for your email of 23 September 2008 requesting an internal
review under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”).

I have now carried out the review of our response and the redacted
document sent to you on 23 September 2008.

After due consideration of the redactions and the exemptions applied, I
have concluded that some of the information previously withheld can now
be released. I have attached a new version of the document with
information that I now consider can be disclosed. You will see that
some redactions remain as I consider that these are exempt under section
42 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

This section of the Act exempts information under legal professional
privilege. I consider that this information relates to communications
between Companies House and Legal Advisers that were confidential and
written for the purposes of obtaining legal advice or assistance in
relation to rights and obligations during the Review process.

I have considered the public interest test in this matter and conclude
that there is greater public interest in withholding the information
rather than disclosure. The information that remains redacted under
section 42 concerns advice and frank exchange of information and
opinion. Disclosure of this type of information could potentially
undermine any future exchanges of advice and opinion sought from Legal
Advisers.

I hope that you will appreciate why I consider that some information
should remain redacted but, if you are disappointed with the result of
this Internal Review, you have the right to apply directly to the
Information Commissioner. The Information Commissioner can be contacted
at; Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely

Tim Moss

This message and any attachments are intended for the persons named as addressees only and may contain confidential information. In addition they may be protected by copyright.

If you receive it in error, notify us, delete it and do not make use of or copy it. You must not copy, disseminate or otherwise distribute or publish this message, except for the purposes for which this message is intended, without our consent.

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Dear Alison / Tim,

Thank you for this email; however you appear to have attached the
new version of the document!

Yours sincerely,

Richard Jackson

Dear Mr Jackson

Im sorry if I sent the wrong attachment, but it was the only one I had
been sent, could you give me your telephone number and I will get
someone to ring you back shortly?

Many thanks

Alison

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23/10/2008 16:51 >>>
Dear Alison / Tim,

Thank you for this email; however you appear to have attached the
new version of the document!

Yours sincerely,

Richard Jackson

show quoted sections

Dear Alison,

Sorry for the confusion - I completely miswrote my previous email:
I meant that you had forgotten to attach the new version of the
document: i.e. there was no attachment with your mail whatsoever
(not the wrong attachment as I implied).

Yours sincerely,

Richard Jackson

Dear Mr Jackson

Im sorry you didn't receive it I don't know what happened, hopefully
this will come through to you.

Let me know if there are any problems.

Alison

show quoted sections

23/10/2008 16:51 >>>
Dear Alison / Tim,

Thank you for this email; however you appear to have attached the
new version of the document!

Yours sincerely,

Richard Jackson

show quoted sections