Expenses Repaid.

Dear Mr Perrin

Thank you for your request for information which was received on 8 May
2009.

We will endeavour to respond to your request promptly and in any case by
8 June 2009.

Your sincerely

Katarina Ndrepepaj

Freedom of Information and Resources Coordinator

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Perrin,

Thank you for your request for information which is copied below.

We hold detailed electronic records of debit and credit against each
Member's account dating back to April 2005. Such records number in the
tens of thousands. Database entries where an amount has been credited to
Members' accounts also amount to thousands. A refund could be recorded
for a number of reasons and not only as a repayment of a previously
submitted claim by a Member. Therefore, in order to be able to extract
the information you require - 'where the expense had previously been
claimed, cleared and paid' - we would need to sift through all such
records including matching it against the paper records of claims.
Please could you let me know if it would be possible to narrow down your
request to a shorter, specified period of time, for example part of a
year.

I am afraid I have to refuse your request at this stage as we have
estimated that the work required to locate, retrieve and prepare the
data for disclosure would exceed the appropriate limit as described in s
12 of FOI Act and associated fees regulations.

You may, if dissatisfied with the treatment of your request, ask the
House of Commons to conduct an internal review of this decision.
Requests for internal review should be addressed to: Freedom of
Information Officer, Department of Resources, House of Commons London
SW1 OAA or [House of Commons request email]. Please ensure that you specify the
nature of your complaint and any arguments or points that you wish to
make.
If you remain dissatisfied, you may appeal to the Information
Commissioner at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely

Bob Castle
Head of Information Rights and Information Security

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Perrin,

Thank you for your email dated 8 June2009 which was received on 9 June.

We shall deal with it as a new request and endeavour to provide a
response by 7 July 2009.

If you have any queries about your request, please contact me.

Mandy Kelly
Freedom of Information Assistant

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Perrin,

Thank you for your email dated 18 June 2009.

The information you asked for, as shown below, is being prepared. We
will forward our response to you as soon as possible, and in any event
by the due date (7 July 2009).

Mandy Kelly
Freedom of Information Assistant

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Perrin,

Thank you for your request for information, which is copied below. I am
sorry we did not respond on this sooner. However, we are dealing with
unprecedented numbers of requests and, whilst resources are being
identified and allocated, we are not able to respond as quickly as we
would like. I am also sorry that I am asking you for further
clarification. If you could email me a telephone number to
[1][House of Commons request email] on which I can contact you, I would be happy
to discuss this request with you.

Your request for details of every credit to Members' accounts has been
refused. This information represents more than twenty thousand entries in
our database. Credits may appear for many reasons, including transfers
between budgets, allocation of mode of transport, refunds to the account
etc. The work required to extract the relevant information and prepare it
in the format requested, without identifying third parties whose personal
data cannot be disclosed without contravening the data protection
principles and other exempt material, would exceed the appropriate limit
as described in section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act and
associated fees regulations.

Your request for access to the full accounts database is also refused. It
is not possible for us to make this information available without
disclosing information that is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of
Information Act, including third party personal informaiton which is
exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) and 40(3)(a)(i).

If you are able to specify a small sample of information in which you are
interested, for example restricted by timeframe and allowance type, we
would be happy to consider your request.

You may, if dissatisfied with the treatment of your request, ask the House
of Commons to conduct an internal review of this decision. Requests for
internal review should be addressed to: Freedom of Information Officer,
Department of Resources, House of Commons London SW1 OAA or
[2][House of Commons request email]. Please ensure that you specify the nature of
your complaint and any arguments or points that you wish to make.

If you remain dissatisfied, you may appeal to the Information Commissioner
at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely,

Bob Castle

Head of Information Rights and Information Security

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Perrin

I refer you to the response previously given (copied below):

" Your request for access to the full accounts database is also
refused. It is not possible for us to make this information
available without disclosing information that is exempt from
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, including third
party personal information which is exempt from disclosure under
section 40(2) and 40(3)(a)(i)."

Other exemptions may also apply

Also as previously stated:

" The work required to extract
the relevant information and prepare it in the format requested,
without identifying third parties whose personal data cannot be
disclosed without contravening the data protection principles and
other exempt material, would exceed the appropriate limit as
described in section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act and
associated fees regulations."

As previously suggested If you are able to specify a small sample of
information in which you are interested, for example restricted by
timeframe and allowance type, we would be happy to consider your
original request. Otherwise please let me know if you would like me to
submit your original request and our handling of it to our internal
review process.

Yours sincerely
Bob Castle

show quoted sections