Recent decision on application of FOIA section 53 to Cabinet Minutes

M Bimmler made this Freedom of Information request to Cabinet Office

This request has been withdrawn by the person who made it. There may be an explanation in the correspondence below.

From: M Bimmler

25 February 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

as you will surely know, in a well publicised FOI request, the
Cabinet Office has been asked to release certain Cabinet minutes
and other documents. The decision to refuse access to the documents
had been overturned by the Information Commissioner, whose decision
in respect of the Cabinet Minutes had in turn been upheld by the
Information Tribunal. The Lord Chancellor has now, as provided by
section 53 of the FOIA, exempt the Cabinet Office from complying
with that request.

I would hereby like to request all information held by the Cabinet
Office on the consideration and decision of this entire FOI case,
as long as that information has not already been published (ie. the
decision notice, the Tribunal decision, the section 53 certificate
itself, need not be provided again).

If this request will infer excessive costs, I am willing to narrow
it down to records and documents pertaining to the consideration of
whether a section 53 certificate shall be issued or not or which in
other ways are directly or indirectly concerned with this section
53 certificate. I explicitly include internal correspondence and
correspondence with other parties (both governmental and extrnal)
concerning this case, resp. in the "narrow" version of my request,
concerning the certificate.

I shall be glad to clarify my request if needed.

Yours faithfully,

Michael Bimmler

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Cabinet Office

26 February 2009

CABINET OFFICE REFERENCE: FOI262718

Dear Mr Bimmler,

Thank you for your request for information. Your request was received on
25/02/2009 and is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, I will
let you know the likely charges before proceeding.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Yours sincerely,

FOI Team
Cabinet Office
E: [1][Cabinet Office request email]

The Cabinet Office computer systems may be monitored and communications
carried on them recorded to secure the effective operation of the system
and for other lawful purposes.

show quoted sections

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

References

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1. mailto:[Cabinet Office request email]

Link to this

Cabinet Office

25 March 2009

Attachment doc 2009 03 25 17 11 30 829.pdf
398K Download View as HTML

Please see attached.

Kathryn

The Cabinet Office computer systems may be monitored and communications
carried on them recorded, to secure the effective operation of the system
and for other lawful purposes.

show quoted sections

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

Link to this

From: M Bimmler

26 March 2009

Kathryn,

many thanks for your email! As suggested by you, I will clarify my
request by limiting it to certain business areas.

I would appreciate it, if you could search for documents relevant
to my request in:

1. The Cabinet Secretariat, including all sub-units
2. The Private Office of the Secretary of the Cabinet.

If this is still excessive, please search instead in

1. The Economic and Domestic Secretariat
2. The Private Office of the Secretary of the Cabinet.

If this too is excessive, please only search in:

1. The Economic and Domestic Secretariat

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Bimmler

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Cabinet Office

1 April 2009

CABINET OFFICE REFERENCE: FOI263980

Dear Mr Bimmler,

Thank you for your request for information. Your request was received on
27/03/2009 and is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, I will
let you know the likely charges before proceeding.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Yours sincerely,

FOI Team
Cabinet Office
E: [1][Cabinet Office request email]

The Cabinet Office computer systems may be monitored and communications
carried on them recorded to secure the effective operation of the system
and for other lawful purposes.

show quoted sections

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

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Cabinet Office request email]

Link to this

Cabinet Office

27 April 2009

Attachment doc 2009 04 27 16 51 46 895.pdf
487K Download View as HTML

Please see attached letter.

Kathryn

The Cabinet Office computer systems may be monitored and communications
carried on them recorded to secure the effective operation of the system
and for other lawful purposes.

show quoted sections

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

Link to this

From: M Bimmler

29 April 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

many thanks for your latest email. I am happy to continue narrowing
down my request. Please consider my request again as it was (in the
narrowest form that it has been submitted, viz. only considering
the Economic and Domestic Secretariat), but only looking into the
following period of time:

27 January 2009 - 24 February 2009 (both dates inclusive).

If exceeding the cost limit, please replace these limit dates with

10 February 2009 - 24 February 2009

If still exceeding the cost limit, please replace with

17 Februar 2009 - 24 February 2009

If a 'one week search' is still exceeding the cost limit, I shall
await your guidance on how to further clarify my search as to meet
the cost limit.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Bimmler

Link to this

Cabinet Office

29 April 2009

I am out of the office for much of today (Wednesday). If anything is urgent please contact Scott McPherson on 020 7276 0443.

Kathryn

The Cabinet Office computer systems may be monitored and communications carried on them recorded to secure the effective operation of the system and for other lawful purposes.

show quoted sections

Link to this

Cabinet Office

1 May 2009

CABINET OFFICE REFERENCE: FOI264882

Dear Mr Bimmler,

Thank you for your request for information. Your request was received on
30/04/2009 and is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, I will
let you know the likely charges before proceeding.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Yours sincerely,

FOI Team
Cabinet Office
E: [1][Cabinet Office request email]

The Cabinet Office computer systems may be monitored and communications
carried on them recorded, to secure the effective operation of the system
and for other lawful purposes.

show quoted sections

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

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Cabinet Office request email]

Link to this

From: M Bimmler

3 June 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Considering that you have received my request on April 30th, I
believe I was due a reply on June 1, allowing for 2 Bank Holidays
in May.

I should therefore appreciate a reply at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Bimmler

Link to this

Cabinet Office

4 June 2009

Attachment doc 2009 06 04 13 28 30 008.pdf
388K Download View as HTML

Please see attached with reference to your request to the Cabinet Office
(our reference: FOI 264882).

Kind regards,

Kathryn

The Cabinet Office computer systems may be monitored and communications
carried on them recorded to secure the effective operation of the system
and for other lawful purposes.

show quoted sections

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

Link to this

From: M Bimmler

4 June 2009

Dear Ms Fairhurst,

many thanks for your letter, I look forward to your substantive
response.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Bimmler

Link to this

From: M Bimmler

29 June 2009

Dear Ms Fairhurst,

I believe you planned to send me a response by today.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Bimmler

Link to this

Cabinet Office

2 July 2009

Attachment FOI264882.pdf
130K Download View as HTML

Please see the attached letter.

show quoted sections

Link to this

From: M Bimmler

2 July 2009

Dear Mr Pigott,

thank you for your letter of which I acknowledge receipt.

Yours faithfully,

Michael Bimmler

Link to this

From: M Bimmler

6 July 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

I hereby withdraw my request.

Yours faithfully,

Michael Bimmler

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Bob left an annotation (21 August 2009)

Why did you withdraw the request just before they were due to answer?

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Things to do with this request

Anyone:
Cabinet Office only: