Dear Department for Transport,

If I understand the sequence correctly, the Major Projects Authority produce two annual reports on HS2. I submitted request to you earlier in the year (F0012817) regarding the first one in 2015. This request relates to the second report conducted in 2015.

I would at the very least like to know the latest traffic-light rating given to the HS2 project by the Major Projects Authority, and when this happened. I would also like a copy of this report. Failing this, I wish to know the areas of concern and/or suggested actions which have been recommended.

I make this request under the EIRs. I feel the need to point this out, as despite rulings from the Information Commissioner on cases FER0467548 and FER0536325 submitted by Dr Paul Thornton, which established that MPA reports on HS2 contain environmental information as defined in the EIR.

I sincerely hope you will accept that MPA reports on HS2 are covered by the EIRs and reply accordingly, instead of employing the continual obfuscation I have come to expect when making these requests. I also do not expect a message claiming you do not 'own' the information as has happened in the past, as there is no concept of information “ownership” under the FOIA or the EIRs.

Yours faithfully,

Joe Rukin.

Dear Department for Transport,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Transport's handling of my FOI request 'Autumn 2015 MPA report on HS2'.

I wish to congratulate you for your earlier response which is a masterpiece of prevarication, obfuscation & delay, with a hint of condescending undertones. What has become clear is that in 2015, for reasons unknown, the MPA decided to report not on the HS2 project as a whole, but complete separate reports on the different sections of the project. It would have been simple enough to have made this clear in your response, but instead you decided to insinuate that the MPA produced no reports on HS2 in 2015 at all.

The fact of the matter is that there were reports conducted by the MPA on HS2 and traffic light ratings were assigned, which has been proven by HS2 Ltd themselves who in a report earlier this month, stated Phase 2a has been rated 'amber'. The fact that these reports were not compiled into one overall report or the ratings complied into one overall rating is completely incidental.

It is perfectly clear that if I knew this new approach was in effect, I would have asked specifically for all the reports for all of the different phases relating to HS2, however the clear implication that this was the information I was asking for is unambiguous. I find your response to be symptomatic of the Governmental approach to 'Freedom' of Information; in that the public do not even have enough information to know what are the right questions to ask. Your response did nothing in aid of that respect, as it is only because of the report from HS2 Ltd on Phase 2a that I have realised the project has been split up into sections for purposes of MPA (and from now on IPA) reports.

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

Yours faithfully,

Joe Rukin