Sponsorship from Anglo American

Dear Mr Volynchook

Thank you for your request for information about Anglo American
sponsorship. Your request was received on 13 November 2008 and I am
dealing with it 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. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be
required to pay before we will proceed to deal with your request.

If you have any queries about this email, please contact me.

Yours sincerely
Polly Parry
FOI Coordinator

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Dear Mr Volynchook

I am writing to confirm that the Natural History Museum has now completed its search for the information you requested on 13 November 2008 about sponsorship by Anglo American.

In 2006 Anglo American pledged £250,000 to the Museum's new life sciences building, Darwin Centre Phase Two, which will provide state of the art storage and working facilities for our collections and reveal to the public the true breadth and depth of those collections and how we use them to conduct research into problems such as the control of parasitic diseases in humans, climate change and threats to the Earth's biodiversity.

Before accepting the pledge, the Museum conducted an evaluation of Anglo American in accordance with the Museum's policy on corporate engagement and following the procedure and applying the criteria approved by Directors and Trustees in 2006. The policy, procedure and criteria are attached. The evaluation was conducted on the basis of publicly available information. A copy of the data we gathered for the purpose of that evaluation is attached.

The deliberations, advice and scores in respect of the company have not been provided. The Museum relies on section 36 (2)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. It is the reasonable opinion of the qualified person under the Act (Dr Michael Dixon, Museum Director) that to disclose this information would inhibit or would be likely to inhibit free and frank provision of advice and exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation. The due process of considering whether to accept sponsorship involves the evaluation of competing arguments and considerations by a panel of staff representing different business areas of the Museum. The process only works properly if Directors can rely on the fact that the evaluation report has been arrived at through robust and unfettered discussion. To compromise this process, by making individuals feel that their individual deliberations will be subject to public scrutiny, could influence the choices made by the Museum and may ultimately undermine the quality of governance. Disclosure of these deliberations would also be likely to influence a prospective funder's choice of sponsorship partner, thereby jeopardising an essential supplemental income stream to grant-in-aid for the Museum.

The public interest test has been applied and supports the withholding of the deliberations, advice and scores. In this case the public interest in releasing the detail of the deliberations is not considered to outweigh the public interest inherent in the Museum being able, through its executive, to make hard choices based on unfettered and exhaustive discussions about potential sponsorship partners.

If you have any queries about this email, please contact me. If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision, you should write to me in the first instance.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Natural History Museum. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely
Polly Parry
FOI Coordinator

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Dear Mr Volynchook

As requested, your email has been passed onto the person who will
conduct the internal review of the handling of your request about
sponsorship from Anglo American.

However, they have asked to me to clarify which aspect(s) of the
handling of the request you wish to have reviewed. The Information
Commissioner's website provides a list of the possible grounds for
complaint at
http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom... - it would
be most helpful if you could provide more detail so that your complaint
can be dealt with promptly.

Yours sincerely
Polly Parry

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Dear Mr Volynchook

Thank you for you email. I will forward it to our internal reviewer and
we will be in touch within 20 days.

Yours sincerely
Polly Parry

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Dear Mr Volynchook,

Thank you for email of 7^th January 2009.

I have completed an internal review as requested and my findings and
opinion are attached for consideration.

David Thorpe

Head of Audit & Assurance

The Natural History Museum

Cromwell Road

Sth Kensington

London SW7 5BD

020 7942 5307