Dear Sir or Madam,

I would like to request under the Freedom of Information Act that
you provide the cost of counter-narcotics assistance provided by
the MoD to Colombia each year since 2002.

Yours faithfully,

Liam Craig-Best

Dear Sir or Madam,

I made a FOI request on January 30th 2009 which can be seen at:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/va...

I understand that under the Freedom of Information Act a response
was due by February 27th. It would therefore appear that the MOD is
in breach of the law and I am therefore now requesting an internal
review.

I have also sent a copy of this message to my local MP.

I would obviously still appreciate an answer to my original
request.

Yours sincerely,

Liam Craig-Best

Dear Mr Craig-Best,

Unfortunately, we have no record of your submitting an FOI request on the
30 January 2009 but we do have a record of your submitting one on the 19
January 2009 which was answered on the 13 February 2009 (our ref:
20-01-2009-113906-001). Copy of the reply attached. Is this the response
you would like us to review?

If you are still waiting for a reply to a later request can I ask you to
resubmit this, please?

[1] http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/Contac...

Obviously the Director of Information Exploitation cannot review the
handling of a request that has not been responded to yet.

Please contact me again with clarification.

Thanks,

CIO-FOI

References

Visible links
1. http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/Contac...

Dear Mr Craig-Best,

Further to my last message, I have been able to access the most recent
requests answered by MOD and have discovered that a reply was sent to you
dated 27 February 2009 in response to a request received by this
Department on 30 January 2009 (our ref: 03-02-2009-105001-008). I suspect
this response may have crossed in the post with your e-mail requesting an
internal review of 2 March. I attach an e-copy for information.

Please contact me if you would still like us to conduct a formal internal
review and I will notify the Director of Information Exploitation
accordingly.

My apologies for the previous confusion.

CIO-FOI

Dear CIO-Access Rev3 (Bennett, Jory Mr),

Thank you for your reply (your ref 20090227) regarding the cost of
counter-narcotics assistance that the UK provides to Colombia.

You have refused to provide me with the information that I
requested and I intend to apply for an independent internal review
unless a resolution can be reached in the short-term.

I have looked at the Parliamentary Ombudsman's 2005 decision, which
is referred to in your letter, but that decision was made in
relation to a request for information relating to the military
training provided. My request, on the other hand, is simply to ask
the cost of the counter-narcotics assistance provided - i.e. I am
not requesting any further detail or information, simply the cost.

Your letter says that answering my request could "prejudice
relations between the UK and Colombia" and that "disclosure would
prejudice the security of UK personnel".

I fail to see how releasing a figure for the value of
counter-narcotics assistance could in any way do this. As it
involves expenditure of taxpayers money, I believe that making the
cost of the assistance public is clearly in the public interest.

I hope that, as suggested in your letter, it will be possible to
resolve this informally and look forward to hearing from you at
your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Liam Craig-Best

Dear Mr Craig-Best,

Thank you for your reply.

The Director of Information Exploitation has asked me to acknowledge
your e-mail of 11 March 2009 and treat it as a request for an internal
review of your request for information received by MOD on 30 January
2009 (our ref: 03-02-2009-105001-008).

We currently aim to complete reviews within 40 working days of receipt
of the application. The review will involve a full, independent,
reconsideration of the handling of the case as well as the final
decision. We expect to send you a substantive response by 8 May 2009.

Jory Bennett
CIO-Access Review

Dear Mr Bennett,

Thank you for your message.

You will note from the Good Practice Guide produced by the
Information Commissioner's Office that:

"the Commissioner consider that 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."

I therefore hope that you will notify me as to what "exceptional
circumstances" are present in this case that mean that more than
the "reasonable" 20 days are required in this instance.

Thank you very much for your attention to this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Liam Craig-Best

Dear Mr Craig-Best,

Thank you for your enquiry.

I am familiar with the ICO Good Practice Guide and the Commissioner's
view on the length of time that can be considered reasonable for an
internal review. Paragraph 42 of the Secretary of State for
Constitutional Affairs' Code of Practice issued under section 45 of the
Freedom of Information Act obliges public authorities to: "set their own
target times for dealing with complaints; these should be reasonable,
and subject to regular review.". Although the target date set by this
Department is 40 working days, many reviews will be completed in a
shorter period. I am hopeful that yours will be one of them.

Yours sincerely,

Jory Bennett
CIO-Access Review3

show quoted sections

Dear CIO-Access Rev3 (Bennett, Jory Mr),

I would appreciate an update on the progress with my request. Five
months have now past since I requested an internal review.

Yours sincerely,

Liam Craig-Best

Dear Mr Craig-Best,

Please be aware MOD staffs do not routinely monitor messages on
this website. If you have concerns about the handling of your
requests to this Department you should contact us direct, in the
first instance.

I am sorry that you appear not to have received a copy of the
internal review of your request (our ref: 03-02-2009-105001-008).
It was sent to your home address on 8 May 2009. If you still have
not received it please contact the FOI Internal Reviews Team on the
following link: [email address]