Oyu Tolgoi mine 2019

The request was successful.

Stephen Delahunty

Dear Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office,

Can you provide the minutes of the meeting that took place between Heather Wheeler MP and Rio Tinto on 3 October 2019?

If the request is to be considered under Section 43 [commercial sensitivity] can you provide a detailed explanation of your decision and how the department weighed the public interest against commercial sensitivity? For example:

For information to be witheld under Section 43, the following MUST be provided:

-Details of the exact FOIA exemption.
-Details of who would be prejudiced – see MoJ guidance above, page 4.
-A “Public Interest Test” where the arguments for and against release of the information should be discussed .
- If release of the information could prejudice a third party, they should be consulted with – see FOIA Section 45 Code of Practice Part IV
- In addition much information from recent public sector contracts should be made available, especially if they are from after 2005, the start date of the FOIA – see ICO Awareness guidance 5 annexe – public sector contracts.

Further, can you identify and provide any information that might not be commercially sensitive?

Yours faithfully,

Stephen Delahunty

Information Rights (Sensitive), Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

“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”

Follow us online: [1]www.gov.uk/fcdo

This email is intended for the addressee(s) only.  All messages sent and
received by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office may be
monitored in line with relevant [2]UK legislation 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.gov.uk/fcdo
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

Information Rights Unit,

Dear Stephen Delahunty

Thank you for your FOI request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We received your request on 26th October. It has been assigned a unique
reference number (above). We aim to respond by Monday, 23rd November.

Please note, however, that reprioritisation of resources due to the
COVID-19 crisis, and measures we are required to take to prevent the
spread of the virus, continue to have an impact on our ability to respond
to all requests within the statutory deadline.

We have significantly reduced on-site working which will mean delays to
responses which require access to paper records.

We are endeavouring to process requests as quickly as possible, and
appreciate your patience at this time.

Yours sincerely,

Information Rights Unit

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

Information Rights Unit,

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Delahunty,

I am writing in response to your Freedom of Information request
FOI2020/22100, received 26th October. Please find our response attached.

Yours sincerely,

Information Rights Unit

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

Dear Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office's handling of my FOI request 'Oyu Tolgoi mine 2019'.

According to the meeting data tool below and searching Rio Tinto the department should hold this information.

https://openaccess.transparency.org.uk/

The data used in the tool above is taken from quarterly departmental meeting data. If the FCO does not hold this information, can you tell me which department does?

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

Yours faithfully,

Stephen Delahunty

Information Rights (Sensitive), Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

“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”

Follow us online: [1]www.gov.uk/fcdo

This email is intended for the addressee(s) only.  All messages sent and
received by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office may be
monitored in line with relevant [2]UK legislation 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.gov.uk/fcdo
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

Information Rights Unit,

Dear Mr Delahunty,

Internal Review for FOI2020/22100

Thank you for your request for an internal review of our response to your
FOI Request Ref FOI2020/22100

We received your request on 19th November and it has been assigned a
unique reference number above. We will aim to respond by Thursday, 17th
December.

Please note, however, that reprioritisation of resources due to the
COVID-19 crisis, and measures we are required to take to prevent the
spread of the virus, continue to have an impact on our ability to respond
to all requests within the statutory deadline.

We have significantly reduced on-site working which will mean delays to
responses which require access to paper records.

We are endeavouring to process requests as quickly as possible, and
appreciate your patience at this time.

Yours sincerely,

Information Rights Unit

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

Information Rights Unit,

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Delahunty,

Please find attached our response to your internal review request
IR2020/24520.

Yours sincerely,

Information Rights Unit

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office