Dear Sir or Madam

I am shocked having read the request:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/wh...

That the Student Loans Company are still refusing to provide an
email address.

As reminded in the request, you have an obligation per section 6(c)
of the The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 to
list an email address. This requirement is not optional.

I have made this request to make a final attempt to secure this
information, before contacting the Information Commissioner and the
CNLE EU Directives Unit.

Yours faithfully,

Lord McDowall

Dear Sir

We refer to the above and your recent correspondence regarding the
Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002. The provisions under
section 6 of the Regulations are applicable to those providing an
information society service which is defined in the Regulations and is
summarised in recital 17 of the EC Directive.

The Student Loans Company Limited is a non departmental public body,
operating on a not for profit basis. Accordingly, we do not fall within
the definition of an information society service. In spite of this, we are
keen to ensure that borrowers are able to communicate with us through
direct and effective means in a period compatible with the legitimate
expectations of the recipient. Our website is updated frequently to be as
informative as possible to the frequently asked questions of borrowers. We
operate a call centre so that borrowers are afforded direct contact with an
individual who can discuss their queries and we offer a secure webchat
facility.

It may be of assistance if you can provide us with some further details in
relation to your specific query in order for us to appropriately direct
your communication.

We trust this is of assistance

Yours faithfully
Shareen Auckbarallee
Solicitor
Legal and Compliance
100 Bothwell Street
Glasgow
G2 7JD
0141 306 2068

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Dear Sir or Madam,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Student Loans Company
Limited's handling of my FOI request 'Email address per section
6(c) of the The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations
2002.'.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/em...

Yours sincerely,

Lord McDowall

Sent on behalf of Chris Andrew, Company Secretary

Dear Lord McDowall ,

I refer to your e-mail dated 17 December 2008 requesting an internal review
of our refusal to provide a customer services e-mail address.

I have now had an opportunity to review the e-mails surrounding your
information request and to consult with those concerned within SLC. As a
result of my review I can confirm that I agree with the decision made on 9
December 2008 that we are unable to provide you with the information
requested.

In terms of the Freedom of Information 2000 we are only required to provide
you with information which we hold (section (1)(1)(a) of the Act). The
Student Loans Company do not have a dedicated Customer Service e-mail
address. Therefore, you request has been correctly refused in terms of the
Act.

As you were advised in our original response we offer a variety of channels
with which our customers can contact us, namely telephone, web chat, white
mail correspondence, and we have had an email service to support the
Student Finance Direct application process (soon to be rebranded Student
Finance England). An email centre service is however inconsistent in its
"opening hours" as the asynchronous nature of email correspondence makes it
very difficult to manage from a resource perspective, i.e a chain of email
correspondence can be significantly more labour intensive and less
effective than that offered via our contact centre agents on the telephone.

We are investing in new technologies to be delivered towards the end of
this calendar year that may provide better opportunities for our customers
to contact us via a channel of their choice, however our funding provided
by Treasury, may restrict our ability to offer anything other than
telephone contact.

I note that you have raised additional comments in relation to the
Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002. I would agree with
the comments raised in our original response made on 9 December 2008. I
would make no further comment on this part of your query as this falls
outwith the scope of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

I trust that this adequately answers the point you have raised for review.
If you are not content with the outcome of this internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.
The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Regards

Chris Andrew
Company Secretary

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