Home Office staff confidentiality agreements and related disciplinary actions:

Martin McGartland made this Freedom of Information request to Home Office This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was partially successful.

Martin McGartland

Dear Home Office,

I would like to request the following information about
Home Office staff confidentiality agreements and related
disciplinary actions:

1. Copies of all confidentiality clauses, agreements or policies that staff are required to abide by. Please include any non-standard clauses which apply to particular groups of staff, or individuals. I am expecting the release of any relevant standard clauses contained within employment contracts as well as relevant policies such as your whistle-blowing policy, and any rules guiding
staff participation in online discussion, blogging and social networking sites.

2. The number of times Home Office staff members have faced disciplinary actions or proceedings as a result of breaching these confidentiality agreements, policies and clauses.

3. A listing of these disciplinary actions broken down by the date and type of disciplinary action taken (eg verbal warning, demotion, loss of benefit, etc)

4. The number of Home Office staff that have been dismissed as a result of breaching or infringing confidentiality agreements.

5. Of those i) disciplined and ii) dismissed - How many had a defence of whistleblowing?

I would like this data annually for most recent three year period (either calendar or financial depending on how you record such data).

With respect to Home Office policies clauses and agreements only those that are currently in-force are being requested.

I would like to clarify that I am only seeking policies etc.
relating to the staff-employer relationship ie. the rules staff agree to follow as individuals.

If one part of this request can be answered sooner than others, please supply that information while you are dealing with the rest.

Yours faithfully,

Martin McGartland

FOI Responses, Home Office

1 Attachment

Dear Mr McGartland,

Please see attached acknowledgement of FOI request reference 19587.

Best wishes

Rachel

Rachel Anderson | Information Access Team | Information Management
Services | 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF

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Dear FOI Responses,

You wrote to me on the 9th Aug 2011 as follows;

"Thank you for your e-mail of 4 August 2011, in which you ask for information relating to confidentiality agreements. Your request is being handled as a
request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We wil aim to send you a full response by 2 September 2011, which is twenty
working days from the date when we received your request. If you have any questions about the handling of your information request, please do not hesitate to contact me."

The Home Office have already breached the FOIA law in anumber of ways. It is now the 14th Sept 2011 and I have still not had your reply. I can confirm that I will be complaining to the ICO if I do not hear from you within the next 3 wrorking days.

Yours sincerely,

Martin McGartland

FOI Responses, Home Office

Dear Mr McGartland,

 

Thank you for your email.

 

Our records show that the Home Office sent a response to your FOI request,
reference: 19587, to the email address provided by whatdotheyknow on 2
September 2011.  If you have had technical issues accessing the response
via the whatdotheyknow website I would recommend contacting the website
administration for their assistance.  If, however, you have further
problems with accessing our response please do let me know.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Best wishes

 

Rachel

 

Rachel Anderson | Information Access Team | Information Management
Services | 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF

 

 

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Dear FOI Responses,

Why would you reply to anywhere other than here. I asked for the information within this request?

Please ensure that you resend the reply. add it to where you should have sent it in the first please, here.

I look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Martin McGartland

FOI Responses, Home Office

4 Attachments

Dear Mr McGartland,

 

Thank you for your reply.

 

I think you may have misunderstood my previous response - your FOI request
was sent to the Home Office from an email address created by the 'What Do
They Know' website and the response to your request was, therefore, sent
to the email address from which it was received.   

 

I attach the documents originally sent as a substantive response to your
request.  If you have further problems accessing this response, I would be
happy to send these to you at a different email address.  Please email
[1][email address] if you would like me to do so.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Best wishes

 

Rachel

 

Rachel Anderson | Information Access Team | Information Management
Services | 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF

 

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