Dear Mr Gibbons,

Thank you for your enquiry.

We apologise on behalf of the Ministry of Defence that you received no
acknowledgement of your information request, dated 9 November 2020.  We
can confirm that your request has been assigned the case number
FOI2020/12329.   Secondly, we apologise that the due date was not achieved
in this case.    We recognise that the Department has not met it
obligations under sections 1 and 10 of the Act on this occasion.  There
has been an allocation problem with this request but it has now been
assigned to the appropriate area of the Department to process and you can
expect a response in the next 20 working days. 

We would not normally conduct an internal review of a request until the
applicant has received a substantive response from the relevant MOD
business unit.   If on receipt of the response you remain dissatisfied or
you experience any further time delay, please do not hesitate to contact
us again. 

We are sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Yours sincerely,

MOD Information Rights Compliance Team

From: Headley, Mark Cdr (SPO MilStrat-Plans2)
Sent: 11 March 2021 17:57
To: [email address]
Cc: ISS SPP-IR NS Liaison (MULTIUSER) <[email address]>;
Salberg, Thomas Col (SPO MilStrat-Plans AH)
<[email address]>; Taylor, Samantha Ms (SPO MilStrat-Plans3)
<[email address]>
Subject: 20210311-FOI2020-12329_Response _AH_MSP

Military Strategic Plans

Ministry of Defence

Whitehall

London

SW1A 2HB

 
Ref: FOI2020/12329   
Ceri Gibbons  

Ceri Gibbons < 8 March 2021
[1][FOI #704795 email]>

Dear Ceri Gibbons

Thank you for your email of 9 November in which you requested the
following:

“1. A copy of "CDS Directive 18/15 - The Governance of UK Personnel
Deployed Abroad to Deliver Defence Engagement."
2. A list of any other earlier or later versions of the same document.
3. A copy or each of these other versions.”

I am treating your correspondence as a request for information under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. I can confirm the Ministry of Defence
does hold copies of the information you have requested. The documents in
scope of your request relate to ongoing operations and will be subject to
exemptions. To provide a releasable version would require officials to
review over 70 detailed pages in scope of your request. The Ministry of
Defence would need to review all documents for sensitive information that
may need to be redacted under appropriate sections of the Act.
Additionally, other government departments and foreign partners will need
to be contacted prior to possible release. Such a review has been assessed
as being burdensome on the Department due to the length of time it would
take. I should explain that under section 14(1) of the Freedom of
Information Act, public authorities do not have to comply with requests if
they are deemed to be burdensome.

MOD may be able to respond to a future request if you refine your request
to a specific question with regards to the documentation.

If you have any queries regarding the content of this letter, please
contact this office in the first instance.  Following this, 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 [2][email address]). 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 [3]https://ico.org.uk/.

Yours sincerely,

AH Mil Str

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #704795 email]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. https://ico.org.uk/

Dear Mr Gibbons,

We acknowledge receipt of your email, which asked for an internal review
of the handling of your request under the FOI Act, our reference
FOI2020/12329. 

The Department's target for completing internal reviews is 20 working days
from date of receipt and we therefore aim to complete the review and
respond to you by 5 May 2021. While we are working hard to achieve this,
in the interests of providing you with a realistic indication of when you
should expect a response, the majority are currently taking between 20 and
40 working days to complete.  The review will involve an independent
assessment of the handling of this request and the outcome.

We should also advise that the measures implemented by the Department to
prevent the spread of COVID-19 may continue to impact upon our ability to
complete the review within the above timescale but we will aim to provide
you with an update, if necessary.

Regards,

MOD Information Rights Compliance Team

Dear Mr Gibbons,

Please see attached letter in relation to your request for information

Regards

Information Rights Team

Ministry of Defence

Dear Mr Gibbons,

Please find attached a response to your request for internal review.

Yours sincerely,

MOD Information Rights Compliance Team

Dear Ceri Gibbons,

Please see attached response to your request for information on behalf of
the SPO AH Mil Strat Plans department.

Regards

Information Rights Team

Ministry of Defence

show quoted sections

Dear Ceri Gibbons,

Please see attached revised response to your request for information for
FOI2020/12329 on behalf of the SPO AH Mil Strat Plans department.

This is in regards to the Internal Review point 17 issued to you on 3^rd
June 2021.

Please note that you will be provided with a response for 19/18 under
reference number FOI2021/03713

Regards

Information Rights Team

Ministry of Defence

show quoted sections

Dear Ceri Gibbons,

Further to our email earlier, please ignore the response and information
provided to you under this FOI request.

This was sent to you in error and should have been directed to your
request under reference number FOI2020/12329.

We will provide you with a response for 19/18 under reference number
FOI2021/03713 in due course.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Regards

Information Rights Team

Ministry of Defence

From: CIO-FOI (MULTIUSER) <[email address]>
Sent: 02 September 2021 09:59
To: Ceri Gibbons <[FOI #704795 email]>
Subject: 20210902 - RE: Internal review of Freedom of Information request
- CDS Directive 18/15

Dear Ceri Gibbons,

Please see attached response to your request for information on behalf of
the SPO AH Mil Strat Plans department.

Regards

Information Rights Team

Ministry of Defence

show quoted sections

Dear Ceri Gibbons,

 1. The Central MOD FOI team are conducting an audit of our case
management system used to record requests made under the Freedom of
Information Act. We have identified your request detailed below,
logged under our reference number: FOI2021/03713.

 2. Our records for this request indicate that you have not received a
substantive response from the Department.

 3. Your request FOI2021/03713 was received on 17 June 2021 and sought the
following information:

Please review this request and in order not to be overly burdensome
confine my request   to the requested   list of versions of CDS Directive
18/15 and a copy of the extant version only.

 4. As such, in respect of your requests, my team will engage with the
relevant area of the Department to establish the status of your
request, including whether any recorded information is held and if
this can be provided within cost limits and if any exemptions under
the Act are engaged.

 5. However, before my team commences this work, given the passage of time
from your original request I would like you to confirm that you still
require the Department to complete the consideration of the request
detailed above under the Act.

 6. To enable my team to progress the audit of our outstanding cases, in
the event that we do not receive a response from you within 20 days
from receipt of this letter, we will assume that you no longer wish to
pursue this request. 

 7. Finally, if you have any queries or concerns regarding the content of
this letter please contact this office in the first instance.

Yours sincerely

Mr Paul Daly

A/Hd Information Rights

Defence Digital

Ministry of Defence

Dear Ceri Gibbons,

Thank you for your message below.

I have informed the appropriate area that you do require the information
requested  (see below) and asked them to respond directly to you.

Whilst we will process your requests as quickly as possible, where
priorities and resources allow, there remains the likelihood that some
delays may occur.

Yours sincerely

Mr Paul Daly

A/Hd Information Rights

Defence Digital

Ministry of Defence

show quoted sections

Dear Ceri Gibbons,

Please find attached our response to your recent enquiry, FOI2021/03713.

Regards,

SPO Corporate Governance Secretariat & Communications Team

MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB

Dear Mr Gibbons,

Thank you for your email dated 29 November 2022, requesting an internal
review for FOI2021/03713.

The Department's target for completing internal reviews is 20 working days
and we therefore aim to complete the review and respond to you by 30
December 2022. While we are working hard to achieve this, in the interests
of providing you with a more realistic indication of when you should
expect a response, we should advise that the majority are currently taking
between 20 and 40 working days to complete.

The internal review will involve a full, independent reconsideration of
the handling of the Request for Information under the Freedom of
Information Act as well as the final decision.

Yours sincerely,

MOD Information Rights Compliance Team