Make and explore Freedom of Information requestsFollow this request
There is 1 person following this request
Act on what you've learnt
Similar requests
Corruption Investigations
To Home Office by daniela drysdale 6 December 2011
MV Derbyshire clarifications
To Department for Transport by daniela drysdale 10 February 2009
FV Trident - Information on MAIB's collection/assessment of evidence for the re-opened formal investigation into her loss
To Marine Accident Investigation Branch by daniela drysdale 15 November 2010
MV Derbyshire non-compliance with the standards
To Department for Transport by daniela drysdale 28 January 2009
Corruption Investigation
To Prime Minister’s Office by daniela drysdale 7 November 2008
MV Derbyshire
To Department for Transport by daniela drysdale 3 October 2008
Evidence undermining the results of the 2004 FV Gaul Formal Investigation
To Department for Transport by daniela drysdale 4 July 2008
Justification for the decision not to re-open the Gaul Investigation in the light of recent evidence and disclosures
To Department for Transport by daniela drysdale 11 September 2008
Complaint about Re-opened Formal Investigation (2004) and subsequent events
To Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) by daniela drysdale 7 November 2008
Trawler Gaul
To Department for Transport by daniela drysdale 22 October 2008
MV Derbyshire and FV Gaul
daniela drysdale made this Freedom of Information request to Maritime and Coastguard Agency
The request was partially successful.
From: daniela drysdale
11 February 2009
Dear Sir or Madam,
I would be grateful if you could provide us with details and copies
of any correspondence or any other information, dated any time from
1 January 2006 until today, which is held by the MCA in any
recorded form and relates, in any way, to MV Derbyshire and FV Gaul
or to the materials published at http://mv-derbyshire.blogspot.com
and http://the-trawler-gaul.blogspot.com
Yours faithfully,
Daniela Drysdale
From: MCA INFOLINE infoline
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
9 March 2009
Dear Mrs Drysdale
I am writing in reply to your request under the Freedom of Information
Act, as sent to the MCA*s Infoline on 11 February about information
relating to your websites and about the MV DERBYSHIRE and the FV GAUL.
The Freedom of Information Act entitles requestors to ask for
information, rather than to copies of correspondence or any other
documents.
Your request should therefore focus on the information you seek. In
order to take your request forward we need to know what specific
information you are applying for.
Any reasonable interpretation of this request suggests that you are
seeking a broad range of information including - but not limited to -
everything which relates to MV Derbyshire and the FV GAUL in general.
Because of the quantity of information to which your request might
relate, the cost of compliance is likely to exceed the £600 statutory
limit established by Section 13 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000;
particular on your expectation of someone having to trawl through your
two websites. Beyond this limit, the MCA is not required to release the
requested information.
We may be able to provide you with the information you seek if you
clarify or narrow the scope of your request so that the cost of
compliance does not exceed £600.
The activities considered in estimating this cost are:
* determining whether the requested information is held;
* locating the information or documents containing the
information;
* retrieving such information or documents, including reading a
file for the first time; and,
* extracting the information form the document containing it
(including editing or redacting the information).
Yours sincerely
Elizabeth Austin-Hancock
Head of Secretariat
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
show quoted sections
From: daniela drysdale
16 March 2009
Dear Ms Austin-Hancock,
With reference to your reply dated 9 March 2009, I was surprised to
read about the difficulties associated with providing the
information that I requested from you.
In your response to my FOI request you advise that "The Freedom of
Information Act entitles requestors to ask for information, rather
than to copies of correspondence or any other documents".
I am sorry to have to contradict you, but your statement above is
not actually correct (please refer to Section 11_(1) of the Act).
As to retrieving the solicited information, I disagree with your
suggestion that compliance with my request would be too difficult
and costly. Many other public authorities have complied with
similar requests from the public at no cost and without much ado.
The MV Derbyshire Formal Investigation was concluded in 2000 and
the FV Gaul Formal Investigation ended in 2004. The bulk of the
information that the MCA holds on these two vessels must,
therefore, be dated prior to 2006.
My request should not involve your having to 'trawl through' the
two named websites.
To retrieve the relevant electronic correspondence, for example, on
your Novel GroupWise email system, you just need to click the
search button and perform an email search by the following
keywords: "Derbyshire", "Gaul", "the-trawler-gaul.blogspot.com" and
"mv-derbyshire.blogspot.com".
The MCA’s electronic file listings should also easily lead you to
all your paper records (2006 onwards only) - kept in neatly
labelled folders in accordance with the MCA’s quality-assured data
management standards - on the subjects of FV Gaul and MV
Derbyshire.
I hope this helps and trust that you will now be able to provide
the information requested without further delays.
Should you not be able to do so within the next ten working days,
please consider this message to be a request for internal review.
Yours sincerely,
Daniela Drysdale
From: MCA INFOLINE infoline
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
3 April 2009
Dear Mrs Drysdale
Thank you for your further correspondence on this matter.
I am writing to inform you that as requested in your email, we will be
taking this forward as an internal review and will contact you shortly.
Yours sincerely
Elizabeth Austin-Hancock
show quoted sections
From: Chris Thomas
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
11 May 2009
Dear Mrs Drysdale
I am writing in response to your email of 16 March 2009, which I
understand was in response to our message in which we asked you to
narrow the scope of your request for information about the MV DERBYSHIRE
and FV GAUL.
As requested in your email, I have undertaken an internal review about
your request for information. As a result I can confirm that to the
best of my knowledge, the outcome of this review is that since 2006, the
Agency has not carried out any work related to these two vessels and
holds no information pursuant to the years in question.
The only activity with which the MCA has been involved was to provide
presentations to the half day seminar to the DERBYSHIRE Family
Association organised by the Department for Transport in November 2008.
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
Yours sincerely
Chris Thomas
Assistant Director
Human Resources
Tel 02380 839556
show quoted sections
From: daniela drysdale
21 August 2009
Dear Mr Thomas,
With regards to the outcome of your internal review relating to my
request for information above, I would be grateful if you could
clarify whether your statement that "the Agency has not carried out
any work related to these two vessels and holds no information
pursuant to the years in question" means that the Agency holds no
information about the MV DERBYSHIRE and FV GAUL whatsoever, or
whether it only implies that the Agency holds no information
originating from any work carried out by the MCA, for the period in
question.
Yours sincerely,
Daniela Drysdale
From: Chris Thomas
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
25 August 2009
Dear Mrs Drysedale
I'm currently on annual leave but will respond to you once I am back in the office
Regards
Chris Thomas
-----Original Message-----
From: daniela drysdale <[FOI #7941 email]>
To: Chris Thomas <[email address]>
Sent: 21/08/2009 10:21:12
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - MV Derbyshire and FV Gaul
Dear Mr Thomas,
With regards to the outcome of your internal review relating to my
request for information above, I would be grateful if you could
clarify whether your statement that "the Agency has not carried out
any work related to these two vessels and holds no information
pursuant to the years in question" means that the Agency holds no
information about the MV DERBYSHIRE and FV GAUL whatsoever, or
whether it only implies that the Agency holds no information
originating from any work carried out by the MCA, for the period in
question.
Yours sincerely,
Daniela Drysdale
-----Original Message-----
Dear Mrs Drysdale
I am writing in response to your email of 16 March 2009, which I
understand was in response to our message in which we asked you to
narrow the scope of your request for information about the MV
DERBYSHIRE and FV GAUL.
As requested in your email, I have undertaken an internal review
about your request for information. As a result I can confirm that
to the best of my knowledge, the outcome of this review is that
since 2006, the Agency has not carried out any work related to
these two vessels and holds no information pursuant to the years in
question.
The only activity with which the MCA has been involved was to
provide presentations to the half day seminar to the DERBYSHIRE
Family Association organised by the Department for Transport in
November 2008.
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
Yours sincerely
Chris Thomas Assistant Director Human Resources Tel 02380 839556
show quoted sections
From: daniela drysdale
31 August 2009
Dear Mr Thomas,
Your answer of 25 August 2009, does not, unfortunately, answer my
question.
May I, therefore, clarify my request for clarification?
You state that "since 2006, the Agency has not carried out any work
related to these two vessels and holds no information pursuant to
the years in question."
Does your reply mean only that the Agency holds no information
derived from technical work carried out by Agency experts since
2006, although the MCA may hold information (e.g. correspondence
between the MCA and the DfT/other parties), not necessarily
originating from such work, but related to the disclosures about
the MV Derbyshire and FV Gaul Re-opened Formal Investigations that
have been published online since 2006?
As it was one of the Agency’s employees who blew the whistle on the
conduct of these two formal inquiries, the MCA must surely have had
something to communicate about, and I have reasons to believe that
this was indeed the case.
Or does your reply simply mean that the Agency holds no information
about the MV Derbyshire and FV Gaul whatsoever, work related or
otherwise?
I look forward to your explanation.
Many thanks and best regards,
Yours sincerely,
Daniela Drysdale
From: Chris Thomas
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
10 September 2009
Dear Mrs Drysdale
To the best of my knowledge we don't hold any of the information you have requested.
It would be innapropriate for the Agency to comment on the confidential issues of Whistle Blowing.
Regards
Chris Thomas
-----Original Message-----
From: daniela drysdale <[FOI #7941 email]>
To: Chris Thomas <[email address]>
Sent: 31/08/2009 11:08:10
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - MV Derbyshire and FV Gaul
Dear Mr Thomas,
Your answer of 25 August 2009, does not, unfortunately, answer my
question.
May I, therefore, clarify my request for clarification? You state
that "since 2006, the Agency has not carried out any work related
to these two vessels and holds no information pursuant to the years
in question."
Does your reply mean only that the Agency holds no information
derived from technical work carried out by Agency experts since
2006, although the MCA may hold information (e.g. correspondence
between the MCA and the DfT/other parties), not necessarily
originating from such work, but related to the disclosures about
the MV Derbyshire and FV Gaul Re-opened Formal Investigations that
have been published online since 2006?
As it was one of the Agency’s employees who blew the whistle on the
conduct of these two formal inquiries, the MCA must surely have had
something to communicate about, and I have reasons to believe that
this was indeed the case.
Or does your reply simply mean that the Agency holds no information
about the MV Derbyshire and FV Gaul whatsoever, work related or
otherwise?
I look forward to your explanation.
Many thanks and best regards,
Yours sincerely,
Daniela Drysdale
-----Original Message-----
Dear Mrs Drysedale
I'm currently on annual leave but will respond to you once I am
back in the office
Regards
Chris Thomas -----Original Message----- From: daniela drysdale
<[FOI #7941 email]> To: Chris Thomas <[email address]> Sent:
21/08/2009 10:21:12 Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request -
MV Derbyshire and FV Gaul Dear Mr Thomas, With regards to the
outcome of your internal review relating to my request for
information above, I would be grateful if you could clarify whether
your statement that "the Agency has not carried out any work
related to these two vessels and holds no information pursuant to
the years in question" means that the Agency holds no information
about the MV DERBYSHIRE and FV GAUL whatsoever, or whether it only
implies that the Agency holds no information originating from any
work carried out by the MCA, for the period in question. Yours
sincerely, Daniela Drysdale -----Original Message----- Dear Mrs
Drysdale I am writing in response to your email of 16 March 2009,
which I understand was in response to our message in which we asked
you to narrow the scope of your request for information about the
MV DERBYSHIRE and FV GAUL. As requested in your email, I have
undertaken an internal review about your request for information.
As a result I can confirm that to the best of my knowledge, the
outcome of this review is that since 2006, the Agency has not
carried out any work related to these two vessels and holds no
information pursuant to the years in question. The only activity
with which the MCA has been involved was to provide presentations
to the half day seminar to the DERBYSHIRE Family Association
organised by the Department for Transport in November 2008. 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 Yours sincerely Chris Thomas Assistant
Director Human Resources Tel 02380 839556
show quoted sections
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence