Project performance information in ARIES

Dear Sir or Madam,

I would like to submit a Freedom of Information request following
up my requests F2009-154 and F2009-186.

For each record in the ARIES database, I would like to have a copy
of all the information held under the fields relating to 'Project
performance'. My previous enquiry indicates to me that the fields
relating to 'Project performance' are:

# Performance Review: Is an Annual Review Req, Ann Review Exempt
Just., Annual Review Due Date, Annual Review Prompt Date, Annual
Review Authorised, Summary Review Authorised, Is a PCR Required?,
PCR Exempt Justification, PCR Due Date, PCR Prompt Date, PCR
Deferral?, Deferral Justification, PCR Authorised

# Output Scoring: Outputs, Impact Weight %, Output Performanc,
Impact Weighted Score, Risk

# Project Scoring: Review Date, Total Impact Score, Output Risk,
Project Purpose Score, Purpose Justification, Overall Risk score

# Method of Scoring: Sources of Information

# Scoring Responsibility: Partners Involved

# Knowledge Sharing/Lessons: Date, Lesson Category, Notes

# Conditionality Review: Disbursement Suspended, Cause, Date
Suspended, Consequences

# Notes: Notes

I would be grateful if you could also include, for each record, the
Project number, description and budget centre so that they can be
identified.

Based on the answer to my previous enquiry I would expect to
receive at least 3323 records. Please send these as a spreadsheet
or database file.

Under the section 16 duty to provide advice and assistance please
contact me if this requires clarification.

Yours faithfully,

Francis Bacon

Dear John McGinn,

Thank you for your email. I appreciate that making this decision
may be tricky; I hope that you will find in favour of openness and
transparency.

Yours sincerely,

Francis Bacon

Dear Mr McGinn,

Thank you for your letter of 28 October regarding my Freedom of
Information request F2009-205. I would like to request an internal
review of this decision.

Please could you ensure that the reviewer bears in mind the
following points regarding the exemptions which were cited in your
letter:

Section 27(1):
ICO Guidance on this exemption states that "the important point to
note is that prejudice must be to the interests of the UK itself
rather than simply to the public authority which holds the
information." I think it is highly questionable that the
information contained in ARIES would harm the UK's international
relations, even if it might harm DfID's.

ICO guidance also states that "The issue of timing will affect the
sensitivity of information requested, and the level of harm will be
determined by the currency of the information in relation to wider
international issues that may be prejudiced by the disclosure." I
would like advice under FOI section 16 on whether my request would
be likely to succeed if it was restricted only to projects which
are no longer active.

Section 36:
I would like advice under FOI section 16 on whether my request
would be likely to succeed if it omitted the fields relating to
'Knowledge Sharing/Lessons Learned'.

Section 40:
It is not clear which field(s) this exemption is being applied to.
I am willing to accept the omission of some of the fields if this
is the only way to ensure that individuals are not identified.

Public interest:
I would like the reviewer to consider the very considerable public
interest in releasing this information when considering the Section
27 and 36 exemptions.
1) Disclosure would increase transparency of the way public money
is spent and its effectiveness.
2) The amount of taxpayers' money in question is very significant -
several hundred million pounds or more.
3) Disclosure would engage the public in the debate over aid
spending and increase participation in decision-making.
4) Disclosure would enhance the quality of professional discussion
and decision-making. It would reveal the types of aid projects
which are successful and help others to learn from failures. It
would also help practitioners to harmonise aid flows.

DfID acknowledges the importance of these arguments because it has
agreed to the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness and published
a part of the ARIES database online. As a recent evaluation found,
there is a risk here that DfID is being "over-sensitive to external
criticism, and unwilling to engage the public in a frank debate on
the effectiveness of external assistance."
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Documents/publica...

Finally I would like to have more information on which of the
fields in the database are (in DfID's view) breaching each of the
exemptions. It would be helpful to know whether some fields can be
dropped from the request so that it can proceed.

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

Yours sincerely

Francis Bacon

Dear Ms Kennedy,

In your reply to my request for an internal review of this decision
you indicated that I would receive a response within 20 days. This
limit has now passed. Please can you tell me when I can expect to
receive the result.

Yours sincerely,

Francis Bacon