BIS Small Business Commissioner Consultation

The request was successful.

Dear Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Northern Ireland),

I would ask that you treat this communication as a Freedom of Information request and provide the following:

1) Copies of any/all communications (letters, memos & emails) sent to and/or received from other Departments within the N Ireland Devolved Administration during the period from 26 July 2015 and 21 August 2015 where the subject matter was in anyway connected to the recently closed Small Business Commissioner Consultation;

2) A copy of any/all communications (letters, memos & emails) sent to and/or received from the Department of BIS during the period from 26 July 2015 and 21 August 2015 where the subject matter was in anyway connected to the recently closed Small Business Commissioner Consultation.

Please acknowledge receipt of this Freedom of Information request.

Yours faithfully,

Jayne Girvan

Jones-McGookin, Mary, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Northern Ireland)

1 Attachment

Ms Girvan,

Please see attached acknowledgement to your recent Freedom of Information
request.

Regards

Information Management Unit
Department of Enterprise, Trade & Investment
Netherleigh
Massey Avenue
Belfast, BT4 2JP
Web: [1]www.detini.gov.uk

References

Visible links
1. http://www.detini.gov.uk/

Dear Jones-McGookin, Mary,

My request of 22 August 2015 refers.

By my reading of the Freedom of Information legislation it appears
that by failing to reply to my request by the 21 September 2015
your Department has breached its obligations under the
legislation.

Can I ask you to check your records and advise by return when your
Departments responses can be expected.

Yours sincerely,

Jayne Girvan

FOI (DETINI), Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Northern Ireland)

Dear Ms Girvan

 

Thank you for your email below. We can confirm that the Department’s
response to your request is indeed now overdue and would apologise for
this delay.

 

The business area handling your request hopes to respond in the near
future.

 

Regards

Valerie Stevenson
Information Management Unit
Department of Enterprise, Trade & Investment
Netherleigh
Massey Avenue
Belfast, BT4 2JP
Web: www.detini.gov.uk

Please consider the environment - do you really need to print this e-mail?

Dear Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Northern Ireland),

On 22 September was advised that the business area handling my request hoped to respond in the near
future.

As this response was clearly no more than a holding response I want to place on my record my concern at the way this request is being handled.

From responses I have received to similar requests made to Invest NI and DFPNI it is perfectly clear that DETI in fact holds relevant information. As to why the Department is delaying its responses that will be for someone else to establish.

By return I would now expect to receive your Department's formal response to my request.

Yours faithfully,

Jayne Girvan

FOI (DETINI), Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Northern Ireland)

Dear Ms Girvan

 

Thank you for your email of 25^th September. We note your concern and
apologise for this continued delay in response to your request.

 

We can confirm that the Department holds information which falls within
the scope of this request.

 

The Department needs additional time to consider public interest test
arguments and we acknowledge that in line with Section 10(3) of the Act,
you should have been advised of this delay before the normal 20 working
day deadline of 21st September.

 

The business area handling your request will respond as soon as possible.

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Northern Ireland),

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Northern Ireland)'s handling of my FOI request 'BIS Small Business Commissioner Consultation'.
The Department has already acknowledged breaching obligations placed on it by the Freedom of Information Act and on the 28 September confirmed that information was in fact held but more time was needed to consider Public Interest implications.

The initial 20 days allowed by statute should have been more that enough time to do this if my original request had been dealt with promptly. To still be "thinking about it" some 13 working days after the initial breach is in my opinion no more than confirmation of the lack of regard the Department shows both to the legislation and to my rights as a citizen.

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

Yours faithfully,

Jayne Girvan

FOI (DETINI), Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Northern Ireland)

1 Attachment

  • Attachment

    DT1 14 0169725 FOI Template 9 EIR Template 7 Internal Review Acknowle....docx

    118K Download View as HTML

Dear Ms Girvan

 

Please see attached acknowledgement to your request for an Internal Review
of freedom of information request dated 22 August 2015, please note I have
included an access to information fact sheet for your information.

 

 

Regards

Valerie Stevenson
Information Management Unit
Department of Enterprise, Trade & Investment
Netherleigh
Massey Avenue
Belfast, BT4 2JP
Web: www.detini.gov.uk

Please consider the environment - do you really need to print this e-mail?

FOI (DETINI), Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Northern Ireland)

2 Attachments

Dear Ms Girvan

Please see attached response to your request for an Internal Review
regarding FOI 2015-0095.

 

 

Regards

Valerie Stevenson
Information Management Unit
Department of Enterprise, Trade & Investment
Netherleigh
Massey Avenue
Belfast, BT4 2JP
Web: www.detini.gov.uk

Please consider the environment - do you really need to print this e-mail?

Dear FOI (DETINI),

Your response letter of 4 November 2015 refers.

For your information Invest N Ireland in response to FoI 860 dated 14 September 2015 disclosed a letter dated 24 July 2015 sent from the Rt Hon Anna Soubry MP Minister of State for Small Business,
Industry and Enterprise and addressed to the First and Deputy First Minister.

Your Department should of course have a copy of this letter which it would have received by email from OFMDFM.

I note your assurance that there is no lack of regard being shown by the Department either to its legislative obligations or my rights however that is something that is probably best left for others to judge.

Meantime I would want to end this communication with the assurance that bearing in mind the Department has already acknowledged one FoI breach this matter will most certainly end up with the Information Commissioner if the "Soubry" letter and other relevant correspondence is not now disclosed.

Yours sincerely,

Jayne Girvan

FOI (DETINI), Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Northern Ireland)

4 Attachments

Dear Ms Girvan
Please see attached response to your recent Freedom of Information request.

Regards
Valerie Stevenson
Information Management Unit
Department of Enterprise, Trade & Investment
Netherleigh
Massey Avenue
Belfast, BT4 2JP
Web: www.detini.gov.uk

Please consider the environment - do you really need to print this e-mail?

show quoted sections