Policy, Strategy & Private Office
Department for Business, Energy &
Industrial Strategy
1 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0ET
Mr Paul Millinder
T +44 (0)20 7215 5000 - Public enquiries
+44 (0)20 7215 6740 - Textphone (
for
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
those with hearing impairment)
E
xxx.xxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
&
www.gov.uk/beis
Stop Corruption UK LLP
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Our refs: FOI2021/09421
FOI2021/09667
26 April 2021
Dear Mr Millinder & Stop Corruption UK LLP,
Thank you for your emails of 25 and 27 March where you requested the following information:
FOI2021/09421:
1.We request to inspect all internal correspondences between officials and all Government
departments in respect of that ministerial briefing report and The Times article referred to.
2.We request to see all instructions given in respect of the Ministerial Briefing Report and
evidence of all action taken by the Cabinet Office and all replies in respect of the issues raised
of judicial corruption and inter-agency collusion therein raised.
3.We request to inspect all documentation to establish what the Cabinet Office and its ministers
are doing in the national public interest to perform on their statutory duties.
4.The scope of the request is from 12th February 2021 until 25th March 2021 and we request to
inspect all information, in whichever form such information is available, including any oral
recordings or handwritten notes, throughout that period in relation to the matters raised.
5.We request to inspect each and every single correspondence between ministers and officials
within the Cabinet Office and BEIS to identify whether in fact ministers are performing on their
duties under section 3(1) of the Constitutional Reform Act.
FOI2021/09667:
1. We request to inspect all internal email correspondences or letters from Lord Callanan or
other officials in respect of the contents of that email we sent on 12th February 2020.
2. We request to inspect all correspondence in whichever form it is available between BEIS, the
Insolvency Service and any external agencies in relation to that email and we request that you
produce that email for public inspection.
3. We ask you to make tab_27, tab_28, the Times Article and the transcript of Mr Millinder's call
with Hannon (Official Receiver of the Insolvency Service) public by disclosing that information
with this request. It is the right of the public to know that the Insolvency Service, under BEIS, its
CEO, Anthony Hannon, the Official Receiver of London and a number of its staff have been
defrauding creditors. Hannon accepted that £4.1 million claim he knew to be false to keep
assets beyond the reach of creditors.
4. We request to inspect all enquiries made by BEIS ministers to Hannon and in respect of
Grant Thornton, along with all responses.
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ('the Act'), you have the right to:
• know whether we hold the information you require
• be provided with that information (subject to any exemptions under the Act which may
apply).
The Department considers that, in accordance with Section 14(1) of the Act, it is not required to
respond to your requests due to the disproportionate level of disruption to the Department’s
mainstream activities that would be caused in seeking to comply. In considering the Section
14(1) exemption, we have sought to weigh the purpose and value of the requests to make this
information available, against the time and resources that would need to be diverted from other
work to meet these requests.
In relation to the burden on the Department in meeting these requests, you should be
aware that we would need to search through a large amount of information to determine if we
hold any relevant information within scope. Any relevant information we do hold may contain
personal and sensitive information and may require redactions. The information you have
requested is not held in a central repository. Searches would, therefore, need to be undertaken
across all the information held by the department. This would involve searching across a large
number of departmental areas, along with the mailboxes of a large number of teams and
individuals. This would involve an extensive amount of resource, disruption and diversion from
the Department’s mainstream activities.
In considering the Information Commissioner’s guidance on vexatious requests, we also deem
your requests to be unreasonably persistent and make unfounded accusations.
Aside from these requests, you have submitted frequent correspondence about the same issue
to both the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Insolvency
Service. Your requests and related correspondence make accusations against BEIS Ministers
and Insolvency Service employees that are not substantiated. Ministers have received
numerous emails where you have repeatedly accused them of various offences, including fraud.
In your correspondence you have used confrontational language which goes beyond the level of
criticism which a public body should expect to receive. These requests are a further extension
of that correspondence. Based on this, we have concluded that the burden in processing your
requests would be disproportionate in relation to the likely purpose and value of providing a
response. Therefore, we will not comply with your requests under Section 14(1) of the Act.
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Appeals Procedure
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your requests, you have the right to ask for an internal
review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of
the response to your original requests and should be addressed to the Information Rights &
Records Unit. It would be helpful if you can tell us why you are dissatisfied with the response to
your requests so we may address this during the internal review.
Information Rights & Records Unit
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
1 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0ET
Email
: xxx.xxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Please remember to quote the reference numbers above in any future communications.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly
to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Complaints can be made to the Information
Commissioner via their website at:
https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/official-information-
concerns-report/official-information-concern/. Yours sincerely,
Policy, Strategy & Private Office
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