Faculty AI

The request was successful.

Dear Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government,

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/a...

"Privacy campaigners have expressed alarm after the government revealed it had hired an artificial intelligence firm to collect and analyse the tweets of UK citizens as part of a coronavirus-related contract.

Faculty, which was hired by Dominic Cummings to work for the Vote Leave campaign and counts two current and former Conservative ministers among its shareholders, was paid £400,000 by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government for the work, according to a copy of the contract published online."

"An MHCLG spokesperson said: “We are satisfied that the service provided by Faculty was of a high standard, and delivered on value for money.” They added that the contract expired in July."

REQUEST
1.Provide all the data, in date order if possible, collected and passed to you by Faculty under the contract mentioned above. I am happy to have this in DVD or CD format for Msft Windows or Linux pc.

2. Provide the specification for the work.

3. Provide all relevant invoices.

4. Provide a list of all those invited to tender for the job.

Yours faithfully,

Edward Williams

Despatch Box,

Dear Mr Williams
 
Thank you for your Information Request of 10 August 2020 requesting:
 
1.Provide all the data, in date order if possible, collected and passed to
you by Faculty under the contract mentioned above. I am happy to have this
in DVD or CD format for Msft Windows or Linux pc.
2. Provide the specification for the work.
3. Provide all relevant invoices.
4. Provide a list of all those invited to tender for the job.
 
We will aim to send you a response by 8 September 2020.
 
If you have any questions, please ask by return email. Please leave the
subject line unchanged when replying, to make sure your email gets
straight to us.
 
Kind regards,
 
MHCLG FOI Team
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

Despatch Box,

Dear Mr Williams
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
Thank you for your request for information concerning: 1.Provide all the
data, in date order if possible, collected and passed to you by Faculty
under the contract mentioned above. I am happy to have this in DVD or CD
format for Msft Windows or Linux pc.
2. Provide the specification for the work.
3. Provide all relevant invoices.
4. Provide a list of all those invited to tender for the job., which we
received on 10 August 2020.
 
We are handling it under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
 
Unfortunately I will not be able to give you a response within the normal
20 working days. I need additional time to give extra consideration to the
public interest in releasing it.
 
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 allows this when one or more qualified
exemptions apply to the information.
 
I estimate that it will take an additional 20 working days to take a
decision on where the balance of the public interest lies. Therefore, I
will aim to respond to you by 6 October 2020.
 
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
MHCLG FOI Team
 
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

Dear Despatch Box,

What FOIA exemption are you applying the public interest to?

The delay is unacceptable.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Williams

MHCLG Correspondence,

Thank you for your email.  This address is not for general correspondence.
If you are an MP or peer, seeking to submit ministerial correspondence,
please re-direct your query to one of the following addresses: 
 

[1][email address]  

[2][email address]  

[3][email address]  

[4][email address]  

[5][email address]  

 

References

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1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[email address]
4. mailto:[email address]
5. mailto:[email address]

Despatch Box,

Dear Mr Williams
 
The relevant exemption in this case is section 43 FOIA - commercial
interests.
 
MHCLG FOI Team

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Dear Despatch Box,

What FOIA exemption are you applying the public interest to?

The delay is unacceptable.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Williams

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Dear Despatch Box,

That section cannot apply to question 1

1.Provide all the data, in date order if possible, collected and passed to you by Faculty under the contract mentioned above. I am happy to have this in DVD or CD format for Msft Windows or Linux pc.

Please release it now.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Williams

Despatch Box,

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Williams
 
Thank you for your request for information. Please see our response
attached.
 
MHCLG FOIA Team

 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

Dear Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government's handling of my FOI request 'Faculty AI'.

"For Q1, the data requested could potentially be used to gain an insight into the
methodology that Faculty used to deliver this work and would therefore be likely to
harm their own commercial interests."

Explain how releasing data would 'gain an insight into the methodology that Faculty used'. Explain how this would prejudice any person and to what extent.

Yours faithfully,

Edward Williams

MHCLG Correspondence,

Thank you for your email.  This address is not for general correspondence.
If you are an MP or peer, seeking to submit ministerial correspondence,
please re-direct your query to one of the following addresses:  

 
[1][email address
[2][email address
[3][email address
[4][email address
[5][email address

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[email address]
4. mailto:[email address]
5. mailto:[email address]

Dear Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government,

Are you conducting an internal review or should I just pass to matter to Info. Commissioner?

Yours faithfully,

Edward Williams

MHCLG Correspondence,

This email address is not monitored for MP correspondence and is only used
for Information Requests under the FOI Act and the EIR, if you are an MP
PLEASE RE-DIRECT YOUR EMAILS TO:   

[1][email address

[2][email address
[3][email address
[4][email address
[5][email address

If you are a member of the public with an enquiry other than FOI or EIR,
please re-direct your enquiry via the contact form on our website 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[email address]
4. mailto:[email address]
5. mailto:[email address]

Despatch Box,

Dear Mr Williams
 
Internal review under the 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
Thank you for your request for a review received on 6 October 2020. I am
sorry that you are dissatisfied with our attempts to handle your request
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
I am considering your concerns and will aim to provide you with a response
by 2 December 2020.
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
MHCLG FOI Team
 
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

Dear Despatch Box,

83. If an internal review results in the disclosure of information
which was previously withheld, the public authority should
inform the applicant of the outcome as soon as possible and tell
them when they are likely to receive the information.

84. In any event an internal review should take no longer than 20
working days in most cases, or 40 in exceptional
circumstances.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Williams

Dear Despatch Box,

please rpovide the Internal Review and stop stalling for time.

Yours sincerely,

Edward Williams

Despatch Box,

1 Attachment

                            
Our reference: 8686926             
Information request

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Dear Mr Williams,
 
Thank you for your patience whilst I have carried out a review into this
case. Please find my internal review response attached. As you will see
from the letter, I have 62 spreadsheets to send to you, but unfortunately
due to IT file size limits, I'm unable to do it from this system.
 
However, if you are able to provide me a separate email address, I will be
able to send them from our FOI mailbox. If this is acceptable, please
contact me at [1][email address].
 
I look forward to hearing from you.
 
Kind regards,
Andy Jennings 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

Dear Despatch Box,

Unfortunately your email address has been removed by WDTK bot.

Are you going to supply me with the Faculty AI invoice(s) for the work?

Yours sincerely,

Edward Williams

FoI Requests,

Dear Mr Williams,

I have carried out an internal review based on the grounds for appeal in your email of 6 October 2020. If you are unsatisfied, you are able to make a further appeal to the ICO as per my letter.

If you would like me to send on the 62 spreadsheets, please reply to this email with your email address and I will be happy to share these.

Kind regards,

Andy Jennings

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Dear FoI Requests,

I will have to phone you with the email address, this website will scrub it. What is the best number?

Yours sincerely,

Edward Williams

FoI Requests,

Dear Mr Williams,

Your email has come through to the FOI mailbox. So if you send a reply to this email with your email address, it should not be removed. I believe the WDTK website removes email addresses from publication, but not in the actual email that is sent.

Kind regards,

Andy Jennings

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Dear FoI Requests,

the reason it reaches your FOI inbox is because WDTK allows it.

I need a phone number or I can write to you, what would you prefer?

Yours sincerely,

Edward Williams

FoI Requests,

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Williams,

I don't have a publicly accessible phone number and if I did provide it here, it is likely to be removed by the WDTK website.

I shall therefore do my best to attach the 62 spreadsheets via a zip folder on this email. If this is successful I will then consider the matter closed. If not, please can you email the FOI Team at FOIRequests @ communities.gov.uk (minus the spaces).

Kind regards,

Andy Jennings

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Dear FoI Requests,

that worked fine, was there any report, summary etc. based on these reports? If so, can I have them?

thanks,

Yours sincerely,

Edward Williams

FoI Requests,

Dear Mr Williams,

I can confirm that the spreadsheets are the only information we hold in scope of your request.

Kind regards

Andy Jennings

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