Prime Minister's visit to Derby

Prime Minister's Office did not have the information requested.

Dear Prime Minister's Office

Prime Minister Theresa May made a speech in Derby on 19.02.18 that included reference to a review of student loans.

The speech used the example of a Derby law student to reinforce a message on educational opportunity. It came shortly after a response from the EU Parliament to a petition on the legality of UK student loans submitted by a law student at the University of Derby.

Please provide sight of records pertaining to the arrangements made for the Prime Minister's visit to include:

1. Confirmation that the original intended location of the Prime Minister's visit was the University of Derby's Law School,

2. The reasons why the location was changed to Derby College.

Yours faithfully

David Gale

Cabinet Office FOI Team,

Our ref: FOI2021/10667

Dear David Gale,

Thank you for your request for information which was received on 12th May.
Your request is being handled under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 ('the Act').

The Act requires that a response must be given promptly, and in any event
within 20 working days. We will therefore aim to reply at the latest by
10th June.

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information Team

Cabinet Office

Cabinet Office FOI Team,

1 Attachment

Dear David Gale,

Please find attached our response to your recent Freedom of Information
request (reference FOI2021/10667).

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information Team

Cabinet Office

Dear Mr Howard

Thank you for the response from the Cabinet Office.

As a clarification, can you please confirm whether all records related to the planning of the Prime Minister's 2018 visit to Derby have been lost or are they now held elsewhere? If held elsewhere, where might I access them? There will have been detailed planning by Special Branch (or equivalent), to include a vetting procedure for the location.

However, if it is the case that the Cabinet Office has records indicating that the visit was always planned to be to Derby College, rather than the University of Derby, can you please state as much plainly.

For reference, I was the University of Derby law student referenced in the Prime Minister's speech of 19.02.18 and am responsible for the EU parliament's 'Notice to Members' that emanated from my 2017 formal EU parliamentary petition related to the legality of UK student loans: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/doc... . Part of the PM's speech was a response to the final paragraph of the Notice to Members.

For context, I am merely attempting to verify information provided from within the University of Derby that suggests that the visit was moved to Derby College because of fire safety / security concerns related to the University of Derby's law school building.

Yours sincerely

David Gale

Cabinet Office FOI Team,

Our ref: FOI2021/12740

Dear David Gale,

Thank you for your request for information which was received on 11th
June. Your request is being handled under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 ('the Act').

The Act requires that a response must be given promptly, and in any event
within 20 working days. We will therefore aim to reply at the latest by
9th July.

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information Team

Cabinet Office

Cabinet Office FOI Team,

1 Attachment

Dear David Gale,

Please find attached our response to your recent Freedom of Information
request (reference FOI2021/12740).

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information Team

Cabinet Office

Dear Mr Howard

Thank you for your response confirming that the requested information is not held.

It is somewhat surprising that, allegedly, no BS15489 compliant audit trail exists of arrangements related to a Prime Minister's visit. It beg the questions as to how proper governance can be applied; who is overseeing information management within Her Majesty's Government; and whether such an omission could place senior members of the government at risk.

Kind regards

David Gale