Saturday 25th April 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please disclose:

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1) The list of the "parent departments" of the "seven civil
servants" on secondment to the Information Commissioner's Office,
as mentioned in the Government's Response to the House of Commons
Parliamentary Select Committee:

Justice Committee - Fourth Special Report
The work of the Information Commissioner: appointment of a new
Commissioner: Government Response to the Committee's Third Report
of Session 2008-09

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa...

"In the current financial year, additional funding has been
complemented by a secondment scheme. Seven civil servants paid by
their parent departments are currently working for the Information
Commissioner's Office on the backlog of freedom of information
cases "

2) What exactly are the specific duties of these seven civil
servants within the Information Commissioner's Office ?

3) How can the Information Commissioner's Office now be seen to
remain independent of Whitehall ?

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Please provide the information, ideally by publishing it on your
public world wide website, or alternatively by email.

Ideally this should *not* be in the form of a "copy and paste"
locked Adobe .pdf file, or similar, attachment.

In the unlikely event that this information is not already
available in a standard electronic format, then please explain the
reasons why, when you provide the information in another format.

If you are proposing to make a charge for providing the information
requested, please provide full details in advance, together with an
explanation of any proposed charge.

If you decide to withhold any of the information requested, you
should clearly explain why you have done so in your response, by
reference to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 legislation.

If your decision to withhold is based upon an evaluation of the
Public Interest, for a Qualified Exemption, then you should clearly
explain which public interest(s) you have considered, and why you
have decided that the public interest in maintaining the
Exemption(s) outweighs the public interest in releasing the
information.

If you decide to conduct a Balance of Public Interest evaluation,
you need to estimate any additional time which might be required,
and to inform me of this in your Substantive Reply, within the
mandatory statutory limit of 20 working days for you to respond to
this Freedom of Information Act request.

Under Section 16 the Freedom of Information Act, you have a duty to
provide help and advice, as to how this current request may need to
be modified, if necessary.

I look forward to receiving the information requested as soon as
possible, and in any event, within the statutory 20 working days
from receipt of this email i.e. no later than Tuesday 26th May
2009.

Yours faithfully,

Watching Them, Watching Us

27th April 2009

Case Reference Number IRQ0245397

Dear Sir or Madam

Thank you for your email of 25 April 2009 in which you have made a
request for information to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Your request is being dealt with in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. We will respond by 26 May 2009 which, taking
into account the two May bank holidays, is 20 working days from the day
after we received your request.

Yours sincerely

Joanne Crowley

Assistant Internal Compliance Manager

show quoted sections

http://www.ico.gov.uk or email: [email address]
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 01625 545 700 Fax: 01625 524 510

12th May 2009

Case Reference Number IRQ0245397

Dear Sir/Madam

I write further to our acknowledgment letter and regarding your request
for information.

Your request asked:

1) The list of the "parent departments" of the "seven civil
servants" on secondment to the Information Commissioner's Office,
as mentioned in the Government's Response to the House of Commons
Parliamentary Select Committee:

We currently have six secondees working in the Information
Commissioners Office. They are seconded to us from the Ministry of
Justice, Department of Work and Pensions and HM Revenue and Customs.

2) What exactly are the specific duties of these seven civil
servants within the Information Commissioner's Office ?

The secondees are performing the duties of a Senior FOI Complaints
Officer working within our Freedom of Information Operations
Department. This department is responsible for investigating
complaints received under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and
Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

Attached is copy of the generic job description for the Senior
Complaints Officer.

3) How can the Information Commissioner's Office now be seen to
remain independent of Whitehall ?

The secondees have been asked to sign an agreement which states that:

Information to which the secondee has access during the course of the
secondment to the ICO must be treated as being private and
confidential. The information must not be disclosed to parties outside
the ICO either during or after the secondment period.

Furthermore Freedom of Information Operations Department has a
procedures manual which records the complaint process and is a resource
for all caseworkers whilst investigating complaints received. Within
the ‘Investigation Stage’ of the manual and when referring to
allocation of complaints within teams its states:

‘When allocating casework to secondees the Team Leader should ensure
that no case is allocated to a secondee which involves their home
department’.

I hope this information is helpful, however If you are dissatisfied
with the response you have received and wish to request a review of our
decision or make a complaint about how your request has been handled
you should write to the Internal Compliance Team at the address below
or e-mail [1][email address]

Your request for internal review should be submitted to us within 40
working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request
received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of
the Commissioner.

If having exhausted the review process you are not content that your
request or review has been dealt with correctly, you have a further
right of appeal to this office in our capacity as the statutory
complaint handler under the legislation. To make such an application,
please write to the Case Reception Team, at the address below or visit
the ‘Complaints’ section of our website to make a Freedom of
Information Act or Environmental Information Regulations complaint
online.

A copy of our review procedure is attached.

Yours sincerely

Charlotte Powell

Internal Compliance Manager

Yours sincerely

show quoted sections

http://www.ico.gov.uk or email: [email address]
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 01625 545 700 Fax: 01625 524 510

References

1. mailto:[email address]