Lobby meetings of UK Perm Rep to EU

The request was partially successful.

Dear Foreign and Commonwealth Office,

I request a list of the lobby meetings (with representatives of companies, organisations and other stakeholders) held by the UK Permanent Representative to the EU and his Deputy in the past six months. I would like this list to include: who was present at the meeting, including the names of organisations/ lobbyists present, as well as the date of the meeting, and the subject matter discussed. I would also like to receive the minutes of any and all of these meetings.

I make this request in the light of my previous request 0536-18 which, in a ruling dated 11 April 2019, showed that section 36 and section 27 of the FOIA do not override the public interest in releasing this information.

I look forward to receiving this information as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully,

Vicky Cann

Central FOI Unit,

Our ref: FOI2020/00926

Dear Ms Cann,

Thank you for your FOI request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
It has been assigned a unique reference number (above) and has been passed
to the relevant section within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to deal
with. They will be in touch with you should your request need
clarification.

We received your request on 11th February and will aim to respond within
20 working days following date of receipt. We will therefore reply at the
latest by 10th March.

Please quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Yours sincerely,

Central FOI Unit

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Central FOI Unit,

1 Attachment

Dear Vicky Cann

Please find attached an interim response to your request, FOI2020/00926,
with a new date that has been changed to 7th April.

Kind Regards

Central FOI Unit
Foreign & Commonwealth Office

Dear Foreign and Commonwealth Office,

Thanks for the update. Can I remind you, as previously mentioned, that my previous request 0536-18, ruling dated 11 April 2019, resulted in the information requested being disclosed.

Yours faithfully,

Vicky Cann

Central FOI Unit,

1 Attachment

Dear Vicky Cann

Please find attached an interim response to your request, FOI2020/00926,
with a new date that has been changed to 7th May.

Kind Regards

Central FOI Unit
Foreign & Commonwealth Office

Central FOI Unit,

1 Attachment

Dear Vicky Cann

Please find attached an interim response to your request, FOI2020/00926,
with a new date that has been changed to 5th June.

Kind Regards

Central FOI Unit
Foreign & Commonwealth Office

Central FOI Unit,

2 Attachments

Dear Vicky Cann,

I am writing in response to your Freedom of Information request
FOI2020/00926, received 11th February. Please find our response attached.

Yours sincerely,

Central FOI Unit

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Dear Foreign and Commonwealth Office,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Foreign and Commonwealth Office's handling of my FOI request 'Lobby meetings of UK Perm Rep to EU' and specifically the FCO response of 26 May 2020, REF: FOI2020/00926.

Thank you for the list of meetings. However I find the response inadequate on several points.

1. It is not clear if this is a full list of meetings or not, or if some information has been redacted. It is not clear how the exemptions cited in the letter have or have not been applied to this list.

2. My orignal request also asked for "the minutes of any and all of these meetings". Your response does not directly address this at all. Do minutes exist for all of these minutes, or only for some meetings, and if so, which? On what specific grounds have each set of minutes not been released? If the FCO considers that some exemptions do apply to the minutes, why have redacted minutes not been provided? Can you assure me that each of the minutes has been carefully assessed for release, or has a blanket approach been applied to refuse the release of all minutes no matter the content?

I would like the FCO to review its response in the light of above and I look forward to receiving further clarification and minutes for the meetings as requested.

Yours faithfully,

Vicky Cann

FOI-DPA PMCS (Sensitive),

“If you are making a request under the Freedom of Information Act,
Environmental Information Regulations or Data Protection Act, please note
that, in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, there may be delays in our
ability to respond to your email. We thank you for your patience at this
difficult time”
This email is intended for the addressee(s) only.  All messages sent and
received by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office may be monitored in line
with relevant [1]UK legislation

References

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

Central FOI Unit,

Dear Vicky Cann,

Thank you for your request for an internal review of our response to your
FOI Request Ref FOI2020/00926.

We received your request on 10th June and it has been assigned a unique
reference number above.

The FCO is endeavouring to meet its obligations to respond to requests
made under the Freedom of Information Act, Environmental Information
Regulations and Data Protection Act. Please note, however, that the
COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have a significant impact on our ability to
respond to your request within the statutory deadline.

Please also note that we are not currently able to access any of our paper
records. If your request requires such access, we will be unable to
process it further for the time being.

We thank you for your patience at this difficult time.

Yours sincerely

Central FOI Unit

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Dear Foreign and Commonwealth Office,

Is there any update on FOI Request Ref FOI2020/00926? Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Vicky Cann

Information Rights (Sensitive),

Dear Vicky Cann,
 
I apologise for the delay in responding to your request for Internal
Review.
We are currently working on a response and hope to have it with you
shortly.
 
Yours sincerely
Information Rights Unit
 
 

show quoted sections

Information Rights Unit,

2 Attachments

Dear Vicky Cann,

I am writing in response to your internal review request IR2020/11149,
received 10th June. With apologies for the delay, please find our response
attached.

Yours sincerely,

Information Rights Unit

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office