Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to request information from the Independent Monitoring
Boards Secretariat under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The
purpose of my request is to create a list of email addresses of the
independent monitoring boards that can be used for Freedom of
Information Act requests.

Your website 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."

[http://www.imb.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...

Your website also states that:

"Steve Kilbey is the Information Access Representative for IMBs and
all requests for information should be passed to him for action."

[http://www.imb.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...

(1) 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.

(2) Alternatively I would be happy in place of (1) to receive an
assurance from the Secretariat that all requests for information
sent to Steve Kilbey (Deputy Head of Secretariat) and referring to
one of the IMBs will be:

(a) deemed to be a request for information addressed to the IMB in
question (b) dealt with using exactly the same procedures as if it
had been sent directly to the IMB in question.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.

Yours faithfully,

John Cross

Dear Mr Cross

Thank you for your email regarding Freedom of Information Act requests.

As the Information Access Representative requests to Independent
Monitoring Boards are, in the first instance, passed to me and are dealt
with within the Act. The advice given to Independent Monitoring Boards
on our website is given below:

Freedom of Information Act

The Freedom of Information Act gives anybody the right to access
information held by public authorities, including central government
departments. Its provisions bind Independent Monitoring Boards as public
authorities. This means that members of the public can make an
information request to us.

If You Have Received a Freedom of Information Request

Steve Kilbey is the Information Access Representative for IMBs and all
requests for information should be passed to him for action. He will
examine and deal with the request and may need to contact your Board for
information. The Board Chair will be copied into any correspondence and
the Board should keep a record of the application and action(s).

IMBs operating in prison establishments should familiarise themselves
with their publication scheme and with PSO 9020, which deals with the
Freedom of Information and Data Protection Acts.

The time scale for responses is 20 working days for Freedom of
Information applications and 40 working days for Data Protection Act
applications. It is critically important that these time scales are
adhered to.

Requests under the Freedom of Information Act should initially be sent
to the Board Chair at the Prison address. Requests sent directly to me
will be handled within the terms of the Act.

Our Publication Scheme is available on the IMB website and has been
approved by the Information Commissioner.

Please contact me if I can be of further assistance.

Steve Kilbey

Deputy Head

IMB Secretariat

2nd Floor, Ashley House

2 Monck Street

London SW1P 2BQ

Tel: 020 7035 2271

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Dear Steve Kilbey, Please could you send me the email addresses for
the IMBs as requested.

Yours sincerely,

John Cross

Dear Mr Cross

As Independent Monitoring Boards operate within the prisons in which
they serve, they do not have individual email addresses. Any
correspondence to the IMB should be addressed to the Board Chair at the
relevant prison. Prisons do not have generic email addresses so
correspondence should be by the postal system.

Steve Kilbey
Deputy Head
IMB Secretariat
2nd Floor, Ashley House
2 Monck Street
London SW1P 2BQ
Tel: 020 7035 2271

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Dear Steve,

Do you hold the email addresses of the Chairs, Secretaries or
similar?

In my view such email addresses would fall within the scope of my
request.

Yours sincerely, John Cross

Dear John

Not all Chairs have email addresses and as volunteers they do not have
secretaries as such. The prisons in which they operate provide clerking
facilities on a part time basis.

The Secretariat, (my office), provide advice and support where needed.

For security reasons and to ensure the safety of our members we do not
issue contact details of Board Chairs or members as this would be their
home and personal details. This also ensures that we fall within the
Data Protection Act. As stated previously they can be contacted through
the prison or through the Secretariat.

Regards,

Steve Kilbey
Deputy Head
IMB Secretariat
2nd Floor, Ashley House
2 Monck Street
London SW1P 2BQ
Tel: 020 7035 2271

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