Access to information in Communities and 
Local Government Internal review procedures 
 
 
Requests for information made to Communities and Local Government are 
considered under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or, for environmental 
information, the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. 
 
This leaflet explains what to do if you are not satisfied with the handling of, or 
response to, a request for information you have made to Communities and 
Local Government or a Government Office (GO) which is part of the 
Department. Separate procedures apply to a request for information made to 
one of the Department’s executive agencies 
 
If you wish to complain about the handling by Communities and Local 
Government or a Government Office of your request for information or the 
outcome then you should write, clearly stating the reasons for your 
dissatisfaction to: 
 
Communities and Local Government 
FOI Advice Team 
Zone D/10, 4th Floor 
Ashdown House 
123 Victoria Street 
London SW1E 6DE 
 
Or e-mail: xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xxx.xx 
 
The FOI Advice Team will send you an acknowledgement on receipt of your 
request.  We will make every effort to respond by the 20th working day.  
However, in very complex cases, or where a large volume of material is 
involved, the reviewer may require longer than this to ensure that he or she is 
able fully to consider all the issues and evidence.  Once the reviewer has had 
the opportunity to take an initial view based on the amount of material in this 
case and any requirement for outside consultation with other bodies, we will 
write to you again should it appear likely that we will be unable to meet this 
target date."  In any event this should not exceed the 40th working day. 
 
A review officer, from a different business area of the Department to the area 
that dealt with your original request, and who will not have had involvement in 
the consideration of that request, will be appointed to conduct a full re-

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evaluation of the handling of your request and the reasons for the decision.  A 
complaint about a request handled by a GO will normally be considered by a 
review officer in a different GO.  The letter you receive in response will be 
from the appointed review officer. 
 
If the decision of the review officer is to wholly or partially uphold your 
complaint then you will be advised of any action that needs to be taken by the 
Department. If the decision of the review officer is that information previously 
withheld should be released then you will also be told when you can expect to 
receive that information if it is not provided with the review officer’s response. 
 
If the review officer has not upheld your complaint, or you remain otherwise 
dissatisfied with the Department’s decision, then you may apply to the 
Information Commissioner for a decision or assessment at: 
 
Office of the Information Commissioner 
Wycliffe House 
Wilmslow 
Cheshire 
SK9 5AF 
 
E-mail: xxxx@xxx.xxx.xxx.xx 
Telephone: 01625 545700 
Fax: 01625 524510 

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