Army Policy & Secretariat
Army Headquarters
IDL 24 Blenheim Building
Marlborough Lines
Andover
Hampshire, SP11 8HJ
United Kingdom
ArmySec/Equip/Spend/FOI2021/01707/
E-mail:
xxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx
01708/01709
Website: www.army.mod.uk
Dr Emma Briant
request-726973-
15 March 2021
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Dear Dr Briant,
Thank you for your email of 15 February 2021 in which you requested the following information:
“The UK's 77Bde works with a number of private companies who it contracts to undertake work
such as a) training, b) social science analysis and research on audiences or c) marketing and
d) media production.
1 How many contractors are currently contracted in each category for supporting 77Bde work?
2 Please could I see an example of a recent (2020/21) contract in each of these categories?”
And
The UK's 77Bde works with a number of private companies who it contracts to undertake work
such as a) training, b) social science analysis and research on audiences or c) marketing and
d) media production. Could I please see:
1) what procedures are in place, if any, to ensure all contractors are registered with the
Information Commissioners' Office and compliant with data law specifically - in particular I
would like to see any relevant documents, statements and guidelines provided to companies
seeking to contract with 77 Brigade in each of the above categories.
2) are such contractors required to declare they are registered with the ICO and is this being
checked? If so, how, at what point, by whom and what language is used, what processes are
followed?
And:
The UK's 77Bde works with a number of private companies who it contracts to undertake work
such as a) training, b) social science analysis and research on audiences or c) marketing and
d) media production.
How many contractors currently contracted in each category for supporting 77Bde work handle
personal data and are they currently registered with the ICO?
Were all contractors handling personal data for 77Bde between 25 May 2018 and today,
including trainers handling personal data relating to soldiers they might be training - registered
with the ICO? If not, how many were not and could I see a list of those companies
I am treating your correspondence as a request for information under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000.
This letter is to inform you that the Ministry of Defence holds information related to your request,
but that we believe some of the information falls within the scope of the following qualified
exemption: Section 38 (Health and Safety). As such it is necessary for us to decide whether, in all
the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the
public interest in disclosure.
The Freedom of Information Act requires us to respond to requests promptly, and in any case no
later than 20 working days after receiving your request. However, when a qualified exemption
applies to the information and the public interest test has to be conducted, the Act allows the time
for response to be longer than 20 working days. A full response must be provided within such time
as is reasonable in all circumstances of the case and, in relation to your request, we estimate that
it will take an additional 20 working days to take a final decision on where the balance of public
interest lies. We therefore plan to let you have a response by 14 April 2021. If it appears that it will
take longer than this to reach a conclusion, we will let you know.
If you have any queries regarding the content of this letter, please contact this office in the first
instance. 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
CIO-FOI-
xx@xxx.xxx.xx). 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
https://ico.org.uk/. Yours sincerely,
Army Policy & Secretariat
