DE&S Secretariat
xxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xx
Defence Equipment & Support
Dr Emma L Briant
Maple 0A, #2043
MOD Abbey Wood
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Bristol, BS34 8JH
28 February 2020
Reference: FOI2020/01641
Dear Dr Briant,
Thank you for your email of 4 February 2020 which asked for the following information:
Please could I see a full list of any projects undertaken or bid for on research/TAA/Strategic
communication projects by Behavioural Dynamics, Universal Live Communications and Harrington
Oakes, between beginning of 1989 - end of 1991 including project description, dates, and how
much any specific contract was funded.
I am treating your email as a request for information under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act
2000. A search has now been completed within the Ministry of Defence (MOD), but I am unable to
confirm whether any information in scope of your request is held without exceeding the appropriate
cost limit for FOI requests.
The central MOD contracts database does not hold any information from that period and an initial
keyword search of the MOD archives has failed to identify any relevant files. I have also consulted
the most likely MOD teams to hold such information, who have confirmed they have no records in
scope. However, I cannot definitively confirm that no information is held without conducting a more
comprehensive search of the archives and requesting that all MOD teams search their records.
Section 12 of the Act makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information
where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for central
government is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 3.5 working
days in determining whether the department holds the information, and locating, retrieving and
extracting it. I estimate that establishing whether information in scope of your request is held would
take more than 1,300 hours at a cost of around £22,500.
Under Section 16 of the Act (Advice and Assistance), the MOD is obliged to provide advice on how
you could bring the cost of compliance under the limit. However, given the specific time period in
which you are interested and the fact that the most likely MOD teams to hold information are
unaware of any such projects, it is difficult to suggest a realistic refinement. You may wish,
therefore, to conduct a search of the National Archives. Should you need it, the following link wil
take you to the National Archives websit
e: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/. If you have any queries regarding the content of this letter, please contact this office in the first
instance.
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If you wish to complain about the handling of your request, or the content of this response, you can
request an independent internal review by contacting the Information Rights Compliance team,
Ground Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail
xxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx).
Please note that any request for an internal review should be made within 40 working days of the
date of this response.
If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may raise your complaint directly to the
Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act.
Please note that the Information Commissioner will not normally investigate your case until the
MOD internal review process has been completed. The Information Commissioner can be
contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Further details of the role and powers of the Information Commissioner can be
found on the Commissioner's website at
https://ico.org.uk/. Yours sincerely,
DE&S Secretariat
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