Usage of Blackberry/iPhone/other handheld devices

Dear Sir or Madam,

Under the provisions of the FOI legislation, I would like to ask
for the following:

1) Are ministers and other senior staff (eg. Chief Executives of
Agencies) in Her Majesty's Government supplied with handheld
devices such as Blackberry, iPhone or similar? If so, how many are
currently supplied one and how is the breakdown in terms of
different types used?

2) (If 1 is answered positively) Are public funds only used to pay
for the devices themselves or also for communication costs of
providers?

3) (If communication costs are paid): How is it ensured, that only
work-related communication costs are paid and no private usage of
the device? Is there a policy prohibiting private usage or do users
have to submit detailed communication bills?

4) (If 1 is answered negatively) Has the issue of supplying
handheld devices to senior staff and ministers recently been
discussed and if yes, what were the reasons not to supply such
devices?

I will gladly clarify my questions if needed.

Yours faithfully,

Michael Bimmler

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Cabinet Office's
handling of my FOI request 'Usage of Blackberry/iPhone/other
handheld devices'.

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

I appreciate the information provided in the FOI response and would
like to thank you especially for explaining the processes in cost
calculations. However, I do not agree with your estimate, that it
would take about 3 1/2 working days to investigate who has been
supplied with which handheld device.

I am therefore confining my internal request review to this
specific point and ask you to reconsider whether the retrieval of
this information would really produce costs in excess of GBP 600. I
also note that you have not made any suggestions as to how I could
make this part of my request more specific so that less costs are
incurred.

Many thanks,

Yours sincerely,

Michael Bimmler

Dear Sir or Madam,

With reference to your email of December 16th, acknowledging my
internal review request:

Could you give me a target day, when you estimate the review to be
completed?

Yours sincerely,

Michael Bimmler

Dear Sir or Madam,

Further to my email of January 26th, I would like to draw your
attention to the ICO's Freedom of Information Good Practice
Guidance No. 5 which states:

"In view of all the above the Commissioner considers that a
reasonable time
for completing an internal review is 20 working days from the date
of the request for review. There may be a small number of cases
which involve
exceptional circumstances where it may be reasonable to take
longer. In those circumstances, the public authority should, as a
matter of good practice,
notify the requester and explain why more time is needed.
In our view, in no case should the total time taken exceed 40
working days. In
such cases we would expect a public authority to be able to
demonstrate that
it had commenced the review procedure promptly following receipt of
the
request for review and had actively worked on the review throughout
that
period."

Moreover, this guidance also states:
"The spirit of the Code is that internal reviews should be
completed as soon as
possible. For example: (...) target times should be set for dealing
with complaints (...) there is also an implied recommendation,
supported by guidance
issued by the Department for Constitutional Affairs, that the
complainant should be kept fully informed throughout the review
process."

As I have not received any further update on my Internal Review
request, dated, 16/12/2008, other than its initial acknowledgment,
I would ask you to set out in writing to me by the end of this week
(evening of February 6th) the status of my internal review request
and your timetable in dealing with it.
Otherwise, I will need to consider a complaint with the ICO.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Bimmler

Dear Ms Kingston,

many thanks for your reply.

In light of your explanations, I would like to make a new and
refined request, viz.

"Are any ministers and other staff in the Cabinet Office as well as
the Prime Minister's Office supplied with handheld devices such as
Blackberry, iPhone or similar? If so, please provide the names and
device model used of those who are currently supplied one. Please
include job titles instead of names for those non-senior civil
servants whose names cannot be given for privacy reasons."

As you will surely note, this request does no longer ask for
details on all ministers and senior staff in Her Majesty's
Government, but is restricted to the Cabinet Office and the Prime
Minister's Office. The request also includes other alterations. I
explicitly note that I will not further pursue the other request
and that I consent to the above paragraph being considered a
completely new and unconnected request.

I trust that the information requested in this new request is held
centrally and can therefore be made available. If not, I would be
glad for guidance as to how I can further adjust my request.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Bimmler

Dear Mr Pigott,

thank you for your recent answer which, I'm afraid, is rather
unacceptable. The Freedom of Information Act clearly states that
information must be released if it cannot be withheld relying on
certain so-called exemption clauses. Your reply completely fails to
address which exemption you're relying on in your apparent refusal
to release the information. Stating that the information is
withheld "as a matter of policy" is an invalid argument: if there
is an obligation to release the data under the FOI act, you cannot
withhold it pursuant to a non-detailed policy. If you believe
you're not obliged to release the data, please state the clauses of
the FOI act which support this belief.

This email concurrently serves to request an internal review of
Cabinet Office's handling of my FOI request 'Usage of
Blackberry/iPhone/other handheld devices'.

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

Yours sincerely,

Michael Bimmler

Dear Sir or Madam,

I would appreciated if, in compliance with ICO guidance, you could
keep me updated on the progress of my Review request and especially
notify me of the target date of your response.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Bimmler

Dear Sir or Madam,

as said previously, I would appreciate a status update on my
Internal Review request.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Bimmler

Dear Sir or Madam,

as said previously, I would appreciate a status update on my
Internal Review request.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Bimmler

Dear Sir or Madam,

as said previously, I would appreciate a status update on my
Internal Review request.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Bimmler

Attention of: Head of Knowledge and Information Management Unit,
Cabinet Office

Dear Sir or Madam,

My Internal Review request of March 23rd is still not answered.
Pursuant to applicable guidance by the Information Commissioner's
Office, I must insist that you give me a detailed account of the
review's current status by the end of this week at the latest.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Bimmler

Dear Sir or Madam,

I hereby withdraw my request.

Yours faithfully,

Michael Bimmler