Freedom of Information
Central Correspondence Team
Central Operations
PO Box 3468
Sheffield
S3 8WA
Jack Maxwell
Email:
Email: request-687355-
xxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
www.gov.uk/ukvi
FOI Reference: 60070
26 November 2020
Dear Mr Maxwell
Thank you for your enquiry of 25 August in which you requested information on
immigration applications. Your request has been handled as a request for
information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I apologise for the delay in
replying.
Information Requested
Please disclose strategy documents and Data Protection Impact Assessments in
relation to the use of algorithmic decision-making by your department. By 'algorithmic
decision-making', I mean to include decisions in which a computer automatically
performs part or all of the decision-making process without a human's direct
involvement, such as:
1. Determining a person's identity, suitability or eligibility for a particular immigration
status.
2. Gathering additional information about a person (e.g. from social media).
3. Assessing the risk posed by a person.
Disclosing these documents should not exceed the cost limit under section 12 of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. If cost limit is an issue, please prioritise disclosure
of the aforementioned documents regarding the following subject areas in order:
1.Applications for asylum.
2.Applications for asylum support.
3.Change of Conditions applications for individuals with No Recourse to Public
Funds conditions.
UK Visas and Immigration is an operational command of the Home Office
4.Applications made under the EEA regulations.
5.Applications made under Appendix FM .
6.Other application systems where the Home Office uses algorithms.
Response
Under section 12(1)
of the Act, the Home Office is not obliged to comply with an
information request where to do so would exceed the cost limit.
We hold the information which you have requested but we have estimated that the
cost of meeting your request would exceed the cost limit of £600 specified in the
Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees)
Regulations 2004. We are therefore unable to comply with it. The ownership and
oversight is currently across multiple teams; therefore, the information request would
exceed the cost limit regardless of how you have already refined it.
The £600 limit is based on work being carried out at a rate of £25 per hour, which
equates to 24 hours of work per request. The cost of locating, retrieving and
extracting information can be included in the costs for these purposes. The costs do
not include considering whether any information is exempt from disclosure,
overheads such as heating or lighting, or items such as photocopying or postage.
If you refine your request, so that it is more likely to fall under the cost limit, we will
consider it again. However, due to the broad request it is likely to exceed the cost
limit regardless of how it is refined.
Please note that if you simply break your request down into a series of similar
smaller requests, we might still decline to answer it if the total cost exceeds £600.
Even if a revised request were to fall within the cost limit, it is possible that other
exemptions in the Act might apply.
If you are dissatisfied with this response you may request an independent internal
review of our handling of your request by submitting a complaint within two months
to
xxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx, quoting reference 60070. If you ask for an
internal review, it would be helpful if you could say why you are dissatisfied with the
response.
As part of any internal review the Department's handling of your information request
will be reassessed by staff not involved in providing you with this response. If you
remain dissatisfied after this internal review, you would have a right of complaint to
the Information Commissioner as established by section 50 of the Freedom of
Information Act.
Yours sincerely
J Slater
Central Operations
We value your feedback, please use the link below to access a brief anonymous
survey to help us improve our service to you:
http://www.homeofficesurveys.homeoffice.gov.uk/s/108105TAZNG