Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to request information from Her Majesty's Prison
Service under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The Independent Monitoring Boards website
(http://www.imb.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...) suggests
that:

"If your Freedom of Information request relates to a specific IMB,
please contact the Board directly via the prison or immigration
removal centre to which it is attached."

I note that each Independent Monitoring Board is subject to the
Freedom of Information Act 2000
(source:http://www.dca.gov.uk/foi/yourRights/pub...).

Please could you therefore provide me the contact email address for
each Independent Monitoring Board or if this is not possible a
contact email address for every prison and immigration removal
centre in England and Wales.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.

Yours faithfully,

John Cross

Please see attached

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Dear Mighton Sharleen,
It would appear my response is overdue.

Yours sincerely,

John Cross

Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to request an internal review into the way my request
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 was dealt with. Please
acknowledge receipt.

Many thanks,

John Cross

Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to request an internal review into the way my request
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 was dealt with. Please
acknowledge receipt.

Many thanks,

John Cross

Dear Mr Cross,

Please find attached a copy of our acknowledgement letter to you dated
18^th September 2008.

Kind regards,

Caroline Stewart

Ministry of Justice

Open Government Unit

Room 330 Abell House

John Islip Street

London SW1P 4LH

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+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |Open Government Unit |
| | |
| |Room 330 Abell House |
| | |
| |John Islip Street |
| | |
| |London SW1P 4LH |
| | |
| |Telephone enquiries 0207 217 2125 |
| | |
| |Direct Telephone 0207 217 2124 |
| | |
| |Fax 0207 217 5150 |
| | |
| |Email:[1][HM Prison Service request email]|
| | |
| | [2]www.justice.gov.uk |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Mr John Cross

[3][email address]

24 September 2008

Ref: FOI 9437 R

Dear Mr Cross,

Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Outcome of review into time complaint.

Thank you for your 30th August 2008 in which you have asked for an
Internal Review into the handling of your request for information (ref:
9437) you made in email of 20 July 2008:

"For the contact email address for each Independent Monitoring Board or if
this is not possible a contact email address for every prison and
immigration removal centre in England and Wales."

I have completed my review and I am now in a position to provide a
substantive response to your request.

I have thoroughly reviewed the reasons for the delay and, at the outset, I
must apologise for the way in which your request for information was
handled on this occasion. We have failed to meet the high standards we set
ourselves for responding to FoIA requests.

I have investigated whether the time we are taking to respond to your
request is reasonable and I concluded that it is justified. Due to the
sensitive nature of IMB members as volunteers we are seeking clarification
on alternative ways to fulfil your information request as fully as
possible. I can confirm that this task is still underway and I have been
assured by the case working section of OGU that you should receive a
substantive response to your request shortly.

Whilst I accept that we failed to meet the twenty working day deadline set
out in section 10 of the FoIA, I am satisfied that we regularly wrote to
keep you informed as to how your request was progressing.

I fully understand your frustration at the length of time it is taking to
respond to your request for information but I am satisfied that, on this
occasion, it is warranted. I have, however, reminded those dealing with
Freedom of Information requests of the importance of providing a full
response within the deadline set out in the FoIA.

I trust that this answers your complaint but if you are not satisfied with
this response you have a further right of complaint to the Information
Commissioner, who can be contacted at the following address:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

E-mail: [4]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

If you have any queries concerning this review please do not hesitate to
contact me.

Yours Sincerely,

Michael Evans

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[HM Prison Service request email]
2. http://www.justice.gov.uk/
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/

Dear Mr Cross

Freedom of Information Act 2000

Thank you for your email of 20 July 2008 in which you ask:

"For the contact email address for each Independent Monitoring Board or if
this is not possible a contact email address for every prison and
immigration removal

centre in England and Wales."

We had anticipated being able to provide you with a response by 3^rd
November 2008 but I regret to say this has not been possible.

May I ask you to accept my apologies for the delay in providing you with a
reply and thank you for your continued patience in this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Adrian Lea

Open Government Unit

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Dear Sirs,

Please could you outline a timetable for a full response to my
request.

many thanks,

John Cross

Dear Sirs,

I am writing to remind you that I requested information under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 on the 20th July 2008. I am still
waiting for a full and final response.

Details of emails sent and received in relation to this request can
be found here:

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/em...

thanks,

John Cross

Dear Michael,

Further to your last email (24th September 2008) in which you
wrote:

"I can confirm that this task is still underway and I
have been assured by the case working section of OGU that you
should receive a substantive response to your request shortly."

I have still not received the information I have asked for from the
case working section.

Please see the correspondence trail for this request here
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/em....

I would be grateful if you could contact them, if I do not receive
a substantive response on or before 24th October 2008 I intend to
refer the matter to the Information Commissioner. I would very much
prefer it if the matter was resolved promptly by the Prison Service
without reference to the Information Commissioner.

Yours sincerely,

John Cross

Dear Mr Cross

Aplogies for this late reply

<<draft letter 9437.doc>>

Best regards
Hazel Lansdale
Data Access & Compliance Unit

This e-mail (and any attachment) is intended only for the attention of the
addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not
permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all
copies and inform the sender by return e-mail.

Internet e-mail is not a secure medium. Any reply to this message could be
intercepted and read by someone else. Please bear that in mind when
deciding whether to send material in response to this message by e-mail.

This e-mail (whether you are the sender or the recipient) may be
monitored, recorded and retained by the Ministry of Justice. E-mail
monitoring / blocking software may be used, and e-mail content may be read
at any time. You have a responsibility to ensure laws are not broken when
composing or forwarding e-mails and their contents.

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Dear Hazel,

Thank you for your email. You said that I had made a repeat request
which confused me slightly. I have made two requests on this
subject one was to Her Majesty's Prison Service and the other was
to the Independent Monitoring Board Secretariat.

I consider these to be two separate requests. I think it is fair to
say that my requests could have been handled better.

Under Schedule I of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 Independent
Monitoring Boards listed as being public authorities under the Act.

When the Freedom of Information Act first became law I never
suspected that there could be organisations legally required to
respond to any freedom of information requests received by email
that would not to provide an email address for people to use.

I respect the rights of volunteers to personal privacy however I am
not satisfied with the handling of my request.

I am requesting an internal review into all aspects of the handling
of my request to Her Majesty's Prison Service. Please in particular
consider:

(i) the time taken to respond

(ii) whether the authority is in possession of publication schemes
for the Independent Monitoring Boards which do in fact refer to a
contact email address

(iii)whether there are any email addresses or IMB Chairs or other
officers that could be released without resulting in a breach of
privacy

Yours sincerely,

John Cross

[Subject only] FW: Michael Cross- IR-FOi9437

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