Contact address for making Freedom of Information Requests

Department for Education did not have the information requested.

Dear Department for Education,

On your webpage here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
You publish a postal address and a URL to a webform for making Freedom of Information requests, but you do not publish an email address.

Please provide the following information:
1) When did you last publish an email address on your website for the purpose of making Freedom of Information requests
2) At what point was any such email address removed from your site
3) Please provide any minutes of meetings, memos or emails which indicate the reason or reasons for removing any email address previously provided for the making of FOI requests.
4) Please indicate how many FOI requests you have received in 2017 which were made by post.
5) Please indicate how many FOI requests you have received in 2017 which were made via the webform provided.
6) Please indicate how many FOI requests you have received in 2017 which were made by email despite you not publishing an email address.

Yours faithfully,

B Maloney

ACCOUNT, Unmonitored, Department for Education

Thank you for contacting the Department for Education. We can confirm that
we have received the Freedom of Information request you submitted.

We will respond to you within 20 working days.

 

ACCOUNT, Unmonitored, Department for Education

Dear B Maloney,

I refer to your request for information made under the Freedom of
Information Act (2000), which was received on 19 January 2018. You
requested:

On your webpage here:

[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...

You publish a postal address and a URL to a webform for making Freedom of
Information requests, but you do not publish an email address.

 

Please provide the following information:

1) When did you last publish an email address on your website for the
purpose of making Freedom of Information requests

2) At what point was any such email address removed from your site

3) Please provide any minutes of meetings, memos or emails which indicate
the reason or reasons for removing any email address previously provided
for the making of FOI requests.

4) Please indicate how many FOI requests you have received in 2017 which
were made by post.

5) Please indicate how many FOI requests you have received in 2017 which
were made via the webform provided.

6) Please indicate how many FOI requests you have received in 2017 which
were made by email despite you not publishing an email address.

I have dealt with your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(“the Act”) and can provide you with the following response:

 

 1. The last time an email address was published on the DfE web page with
the purpose of making FOI requests was 01/04/2010.
 2. The email address was removed from 01/04/2010.
 3. Following a search of the Department’s paper and electronic records I
can confirm that the we do not hold emails/minutes/memos as requested.
 4. The number of FOI requests received from January – September 2017
which were made by post is: 74
 5. The number of FOI requests received from January – September 2017
which were made via the web platform is: 757
 6. The number of FOI requests received from January – September 2017
which were made by email is: 889

 

Figures for October to December 2017 are being withheld under s22 of the
FOI Act. This means that we hold the information requested and we have an
intention to publish it in the future and are bound by official National
Statistics publication timetables.

 

Section 22 is a qualified exemption and therefore subject to the public
interest test. In favour of release the Department recognises the general
public interest in openness and transparency and the fact that this in
turn increases public trust and understanding of Government workings and
policies. However, in the circumstances of this case there are reasonable
grounds to expect the orderly publication in line with the National
Statistics timetable for publication. Early piecemeal disclosure would
pre-empt this publication schedule would create disruption of planned
release.

 

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number 2018-0004147 in any future
communications.
If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you should
make a complaint to the department by writing to me within two calendar
months of the date of this letter. Your complaint will be considered by an
independent review panel, who were not involved in the original
consideration of your request. 

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint to the
department, you may then contact the Information Commissioner’s Office. 

Yours sincerely

S Hanson
Ministerial and Public Communications Division

References

Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...