Information to support Jacqui Smiths statement on election to police authorities.

Paul Perrin made this Freedom of Information request to Home Office

The request was partially successful.

From: Paul Perrin

18 December 2008

Dear Sir or Madam,

Smith made a statement regarding things changing over the past two
months that made it more difficult to win public support for
proposals to directly elect some members of police authorities.

For your convenience here is a link to the 'Guardian' report of the
statement:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/...

Please provide me with all information that Smith has relied upon
in drawing the conclusion that changes over the past two months
have changed the attitude of the public on this matter.

I am not interested in information relating to the other groups
cited (i.e. councillors, police officers etc) I am only interested
in the information used to support the assertion in relation to the
public.

Please note: I have made a number of FoI requests of the Home
Office recently, and while they are not yet 'overdue' I have not
even had acknowledgement of receipt or confirmation that they are
being handled. I would be grateful if you would acknowledge this
and my previous requests.

Yours faithfully,

Paul Perrin

Link to this

Home Office

19 January 2009

Attachment ResponseT26204 8.doc
70K Download View as HTML

Reference : T26204/8

Thank you for your e-mail enquiry of 18/12/2008 11:57:40 AM

A reply is attached.

show quoted sections

Link to this

From: Paul Perrin

19 January 2009

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 Home Office's
handling of my FOI request 'Information to support Jacqui Smiths
statement on election to police authorities.'.

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

Jacqui Smith made an assertion that the public opinion had changed
over a two month period - I have asked for the information that she
used to form that opinion and so make the assertion.

The response I have received (that the information is included in
the article) is incorrect, the article only contains her
assertions, it does not include any information about any evidence
she has to support those assertions.

Please provide any information that was used in making this
assertion - presumably there will be (at least) an assessment of
opinion at the start of the two month period and an assessment of
opinion at then end of that period.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Perrin

Link to this

From: Paul Perrin

30 January 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

I have requested an internal review of this request, but as yet
have not even had an acknowledgement.

Can you confirm that this matter is being handled?

Yours sincerely,

Paul Perrin

Link to this

From: CTS Public enquiry account 1
Home Office

30 January 2009

Mr Perrin

We have received your request and are dealing with it.

show quoted sections

Link to this

From: Lister Ian
Home Office

30 January 2009

Attachment Document.pdf
483K Download View as HTML

Mr. Perrin,

Please find attached acknowledgement of your Internal Review request.

Regards,

Ian Lister

Information Access Consultant
Information Rights Team

show quoted sections

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

Link to this

From: Paul Perrin

30 January 2009

Dear Lister Ian,

Thank you for your email regarding the internal review of this
request.

I note that you say that there is a 40 day response time target for
internal reviews. Ths surprises me as on previously occasions I
have been told that the Home Office target response time for
Internal Reviews is 10 days.

Can you confirm the target response time (and maybe tell me why I
have been given other times previously) ?

Yours sincerely,

Paul Perrin

Link to this

From: Lister Ian
Home Office

3 February 2009

Dear Mr. Perrin,

Thank you for your email.

I can confirm that the Home Office aims to complete all Internal Reviews
within 40 (forty) working days following the date of receipt.

I refer to an "Internal Review" here as an instance where an applicant for
information under the Freedom of Information Act has lodged a complaint
concerning our decision to withhold or release the information requested.
In conducting an Internal Review, we review all procedural aspects of how
the request was handled, the decision making processes, the application of
the Public Interest Test, and the final decision to withhold or release
the information requested.

When an applicant requests a "Procedural Review" - a complaint solely
regarding the time taken to answer their FoIA request - we aim to complete
each Procedural Review within twenty working days following the date of
receipt.

If you have a case reference number for the occasion where you were give a
ten working day deadline, I can look into this matter for you.

I hope this helps answer your question.

Sincere regards,

Ian Lister

Information Access Consultant

Information Rights Team

show quoted sections

Link to this

From: Paul Perrin

3 February 2009

Dear Lister Ian,

I am not querying a decision on whether to withhold information or
not.

I am stating that the requested information has not been provided.
Aparantly being on the basis that the person responding seems to
have misunderstood the original request.

A 40 day response time, when clarification has been supplied is not
acceptable.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Perrin

Link to this

From: Lister Ian
Home Office

16 March 2009

Mr. Perrin,

I write further to my previous emails concerning your request for an
Internal Review into your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act on the 18^th December 2008.

As previously stated, I have been assigned your Internal Review as a Home
Office official who was not involved with your original request.
Unfortunately, the review process is taking longer than we initially
anticipated and we are regrettably not in a position to be able to provide
you with the findings of our Internal Review today, the deadline provided
in our previous email to you.

The Home Office aims to complete your review and provide you with a
response as soon as is possible. I would therefore like to advise you that
the revised deadline to respond in full to your Internal Review is now
Friday the 3^rd April 2009.

I would like to apologise for this additional delay and for any undue
inconvenience that this may have caused. I will continue to progress this
review with all due urgency and hope to be able to provide with my
findings before this revised deadline.

If you have any queries regarding the handling of this Internal Review,
please feel free to contact me at your convenience with any questions you
might have.

Sincere regards,

Ian

Ian Lister
Information Access Consultant
Information Access Team

Email: [1][email address]
Post: 4th Floor, Seacole Building, Home Office, Marsham Street,
London, SW1P 4DF

show quoted sections

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

Link to this

From: Lister Ian
Home Office

5 April 2009

Mr. Perrin,

I write further to my email of the 16^th March 2009 and in regards to your
request for an Internal Review into you request under the Freedom of
Information Act on the 18^th December 2008.

I have completed you Internal Review and this is currently being approved.
I hope to be able to send this to you by Friday 10^th April 2009. I
apologise for this extra delay in providing you with this response. In
light of your email of the 3^rd March, I have gone to the effort of
undertaking additional searches for any information used by the Home
Secretary to base her decisions. This is the reason why this review has
taken longer than usual to complete.

Thank you for you patience in this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Ian

Ian Lister
Information Access Consultant
Information Access Team

Email: [1][email address]

show quoted sections

Link to this

From: Lister Ian
Home Office

20 April 2009

Mr Perrin,

I write further to my email of Sunday 5^th April 2009 in regards to your
request for an internal review.

Our response to your Internal Review is still going through our approvals
process. This is regrettably taking longer than I anticipated when I wrote
to you last. I would again like to apologise for this delay and for any
inconvenience that this may cause you. I sincerely hope to be able to
send you our response to this review by the end of this week. Either way,
I will write to you then to update you on our progress.

Yours sincerely,

Ian Lister

Information Access Consultant
Information Access Team

Home Office

Email: [1][email address]
Post: 4th Floor, Seacole Building, Home Office, Marsham Street,
London, SW1P 4DF

show quoted sections

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

Link to this

Paul Perrin left an annotation (21 April 2009)

Another delay, now expected to be complete by the end of the week - 24th April...

Link to this

From: Lister Ian
Home Office

5 May 2009

Mr. Perrin,

I write further to my email (below) of the 20^th April 2009 in regards to
your request for an internal review.

I regret to inform you that our response to your Internal Review is
awaiting its final approval. I will continue to expedite this approval and
sincerely hope to be able to provide you with our findings by the end of
next week at the latest; Friday 15^th May 2009.

I apologise for this continuing delay and for your patience in this
matter.

Sincere regards,

Ian Lister

Information Access Consultant
Information Access Team

Home Office

show quoted sections

Link to this

From: Lister Ian
Home Office

27 May 2009

Attachment FoIA Internal Review CR10917.pdf
122K Download View as HTML

Mr Perrin,

Please find attached our response to your request for an Internal Review.
Again, I would like to apologise for the time it has taken to provide you
with our findings. I hope that this has not inconvenienced you unduly.

Sincere regards,

Ian Lister

Information Access Consultant
Information Access Team

Home Office

show quoted sections

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

Link to this

From: Paul Perrin

4 June 2009

Dear Mr Lister,

Thank you for your response to my request for an internal review of
this request.

I accept that this has been properly investigated.

I accept that you do not hold any information to support the Home
Secretaries assertions.

I accept that this concludes my request.

However on the substance of the matter, I am a little disappointed
that you suggest that (while you hold no such information) that it
none the less exists in the public domain. I know of no such
information (hence my original request!), I believe the Home
Secretary just said what she found convenient with no regard for
the truth.

I am pleased that the home secretary is reported to be leaving
office and I hope we never have such an amateur inflicted on us in
a great office of state ever again.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Perrin

Link to this

Things to do with this request

Anyone:
Home Office only: