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Information about Stonewall Workplace Equality Index (WEI)

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Dear HM Treasury,
Please can you

1. Confirm whether your organisation applied to be part of the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index in A) 2018 (for 2019), B) 2019 (for 2020) or C) 2021 (for 2022) (NB the index was suspended in 2020/21 because of Covid)

2. Give details of the total amount of money you paid to Stonewall in 2021 whether or not as payment for goods or services.

3. State whether you intend to continue your membership of any Stonewall scheme in the future, and if so which.

If the answer to any part of 1 is yes please supply:

4. Any application you made in 2021 to be included on Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index, including any attachments or appendices to those applications. Please redact personal details if necessary.

5. Any feedback you received in 2018/19 or 2019/20 or 2021/22 from Stonewall in relation to either application or programme. This must include the priorities or objectives written by your organisation’s representative at the end of the feedback form (under the heading ‘Priorities for the year ahead’ in 2019; ‘Your priorities’ in 2020).

EXEMPTIONS?

If your organisation is considering refusing to disclose feedback received as part of the Stonewall scheme by relying on section 41 (confidential information) and/or section 43 (commercial interest) of FOI, please note the recent ICO decisions IC-129040-Y4T2 and IC-125081-Q8J6 which rejected these reasons. Sex Matters has written a short briefing on these two ICO decisions – please see www.sex-matters.org/wp-content/uploads/2...

Yours faithfully,

A J H

FOI Requests, HM Treasury

Our ref: FOI2022/14823

Dear A J H,

Thank you for your request for information which we are considering under
the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

This is to confirm receipt of your request and to let you know that it is
receiving attention. If you have any enquiries regarding your request do
not hesitate to contact us.

Please note: HM Treasury has a dedicated email address for the public to
make Freedom of Information requests: [email address]

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ [1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

References

Visible links
1. http://www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

FOI Requests, HM Treasury

1 Attachment

Dear A J H

Please find attached a response to your recent FOI request.

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ [1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

References

Visible links
1. http://www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

Dear FOI Requests,
My full is Amanda Hayman. Please deal with my original request.

Yours sincerely,

A J H

FOI Requests, HM Treasury

Our ref: FOI2022/16174

Dear Amanda Hayman,

Thank you for your request for information which we are considering under
the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

This is to confirm receipt of your request and to let you know that it is
receiving attention. If you have any enquiries regarding your request do
not hesitate to contact us.

Please note: HM Treasury has a dedicated email address for the public to
make Freedom of Information requests: [email address]

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ [1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

References

Visible links
1. http://www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

Dear FOI Requests,
Please reply to my request which is now overdue.

Yours sincerely,

A J H

FOI Requests - HMT, HM Treasury

Dear Amanda Hayman

Please note that we received your new request on 26 August. Our statutory
deadline to respond is 26 September though we will of course reply sooner
if possible.

Yours sincerely
 
Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury| Ground Orange | 1 Horse Guards Road, SW1A 2HQ |
[1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

show quoted sections

FOI Requests, HM Treasury

1 Attachment

Dear Amanda Hayman

Please find attached a response to your recent FOI request.

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ [1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

References

Visible links
1. http://www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

Dear HM Treasury,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of HM Treasury's handling of my FOI request 'Information about Stonewall Workplace Equality Index (WEI)'.

I reject your view that you can apply sections 41(1) and 43(2) of the FOI Act in these circumstances. The issues of ‘confidentiality’ and ‘commercial interests’ have been considered in detail in recent decisions of the Commissioner. These were referred to in my original request and, for the sake of convenience, I attach links to those decisions below. In addition, I have included a link to an explanatory note relating to those decisions which may be of assistance.

With reference to section 41(1), I do not agree that disclosing the information sought would constitute an actionable breach of confidence. In this context, ‘actionable’ means ‘likely to succeed’ and, as the Commissioner has noted in the decisions referred to, there is a valid ‘public interest’ defence upon which you could rely were any claim to be brought by Stonewall. I draw your attention, in particular, to paragraphs 29 to 48 of the University of Huddersfield decision, which deal with this aspect in considerable detail. In light of the comprehensive review of the legal position undertaken by the Commisioner it is not open to you to rely upon section 41(1).

Turning to section 43(2), I do not accept that you have undertaken the balancing exercise required of you in an appropriate manner, or at all. You have noted that you ‘recognise’ that there is a public interest in transparency before just moving on to assert that disclosure would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of Stonewall. That does not amount to undertaking a balancing exercise at all, not least because it does not contain any reference to the weight you have attached to each element. Indeed, it seems clear that (reading between the lines) your reference to ‘transparency’ is nothing more than a sop. The suggestion that information in the public domain might satisfy the need for transparency is ridiculous. The whole purpose of the request is to seek disclosure of detailed and specific information related to the Treasury and not information that is generally available online.

Furthermore, you have made no distinction between the various types of material you may hold with respect to this element of the disclosure request., as is clearly necessary following the approach taken by the Commissioner. It is obvious that you have decided to protect Stonewall’s commercial interests at all costs and believe that giving the illusion that you have considered the need for transparency will suffice. It will not.

The Commissioner’s views on these issues take into account a variety of factors that impinge upon the relevant tests you have to undertake, including the very marked change in the public’s perception of Stonewall and the withdrawal of many public authorities from various Stonewall programmes. Consequently, and in order to avoid the need for a referral to the Commissioner, I urge you to review my application for disclosure in light of the points I make above and the specific contents of the Commissioner’s decisions.

Links

https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak...

https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak...

https://www.sex-matters.org/wp-content/u...

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/i...

Yours faithfully,

Amanda Hayman

FOI Requests, HM Treasury

Dear Amanda Hayman,

Thank you for your email regarding your request for an internal review.

I can confirm that your review request was received on 3rd October and is
receiving attention under our reference IR2022/19190.

There is no statutory deadline for responding to internal review requests.

However, in line with the Information Commissioner's guidelines and the
[1]2018 FOI Code of Practice, we aim to complete  internal reviews within
20 working days.

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ  
[2]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

References

Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...
2. http://www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

FOI Requests, HM Treasury

3 Attachments

Dear Amanda Hayman

Please find attached a response to your recent IR request.

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ [1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

References

Visible links
1. http://www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are A J H please sign in and let everyone know.