Contacts with tobacco industry

The request was successful.

Dear colleagues,

I am writing to make an open government request for all the information to which I am entitled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Please provide a list of any and all contact your organisation and/or staff have had with British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands, Japan Tobacco International, Philip Morris International, as well as any other domestic or transnational tobacco companies or anyone representing the tobacco industry including subsidiaries of tobacco industry.

I would like this information for the period from 1 April 2021 to 20 February 2023.

Contact would primarily include attending or arranging meetings or functions, and responding to correspondence or phone calls.

Please break down the information by:
• Tobacco company or representative’s name
• Date of contact(s)
• Type of contact (meeting, email, letter, phone call, text/app message or video call, e-card or any other form of electronic communication)
• Place of contact, if relevant
• Purpose of contact
• Outcome of contact, including if no action taken

I request that the information be provided electronically. I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received this request.

If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and assistance, under the Section 16 obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine my request.

If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact me via email or phone and I will be very happy to clarify what I am asking for and discuss the request, my details are outlined below.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Raouf Alebshehy

FOI, CRT, Reading Borough Council

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1 Attachment

Reference: FOI-488989959
Date of request: 20/02/2023
Title of request: Contacts with tobacco industry

Dear Raouf Alebshehy,

Please accept this e-mail as acknowledgement that your recent Freedom  of
Information request has been received by Reading Borough Council. You
should expect to receive a response within 20 working days from the date
your request was received.

 

Please note, if your request is received on a weekend or bank holiday your
request will be registered as being received on the next working day.

Kind regards,

FOI Team

The FOI Team, Reading Borough Council

Reference: FOI-488989959
Date of request: 20/02/2023
Title of request: Contacts with tobacco industry
Information request:

Dear colleagues,

 

I am writing to make an open government request for all the information to
which I am entitled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

 

Please provide a list of any and all contact your organisation and/or
staff have had with British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands, Japan
Tobacco International, Philip Morris International, as well as any other
domestic or transnational tobacco companies or anyone representing the
tobacco industry including subsidiaries of tobacco industry.

 

I would like this information for the period from 1 April 2021 to 20
February 2023.

 

Contact would primarily include attending or arranging meetings or
functions, and responding to correspondence or phone calls.

 

Please break down the information by:

•            Tobacco company or representative’s name

•            Date of contact(s)

•            Type of contact (meeting, email, letter, phone call, text/app
message or video call, e-card or any other form of electronic
communication)

•            Place of contact, if relevant

•            Purpose of contact

•            Outcome of contact, including if no action taken

 

I request that the information be provided electronically. I would be
grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received this
request.

 

If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the
information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section
12, please provide advice and assistance, under the Section 16 obligations
of the Act, as to how I can refine my request.

 

If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact me via email or
phone and I will be very happy to clarify what I am asking for and discuss
the request, my details are outlined below.

 

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Sincerely,

Raouf Alebshehy

 

Dear Raouf Alebshehy,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST

 

Thank you for your recent request received by the Council on 20 February
2023.

 

You have requested the following information under the provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000:

 

Please provide a list of any and all contact your organisation and/or
staff have had with British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands, Japan
Tobacco International, Philip Morris International, as well as any other
domestic or transnational tobacco companies or anyone representing the
tobacco industry including subsidiaries of tobacco industry.

 

I would like this information for the period from 1 April 2021 to 20
February 2023.

 

Contact would primarily include attending or arranging meetings or
functions, and responding to correspondence or phone calls.

 

Please break down the information by:

•            Tobacco company or representative’s name

•            Date of contact(s)

•            Type of contact (meeting, email, letter, phone call, text/app
message or video call, e-card or any other form of electronic
communication)

•            Place of contact, if relevant

•            Purpose of contact

•            Outcome of contact, including if no action taken

  

Our response is as follows:

Contact has been with Trading Standards section.

 

•        Tobacco company or representative’s name

BAT

•        Date of contact(s)

6/2/23

•        Type of contact (meeting, email, letter, phone call, text/app
message or video call, e-card or any other form of electronic
communication)

email

•        Place of contact, if relevant

n/a

•        Purpose of contact

Report non-compliant Elfbar vapes

•        Outcome of contact, including if no action taken

No action taken

 

•        Tobacco company or representative’s name

Imperial

•        Date of contact(s)

15/2/23

•        Type of contact (meeting, email, letter, phone call, text/app
message or video call, e-card or any other form of electronic
communication)

email

•        Place of contact, if relevant

n/a

•        Purpose of contact

Enquiry regarding blu bar vapes. 

•        Outcome of contact, including if no action taken

No further action required.

 

On the Reading Borough Council Website there is a publication scheme where
you can [1]search previous Freedom of Information requests that have been
responded to, to locate an answer to a future FOI request.

If you are unhappy with this response to your request for information
under the Freedom of Information Act then you may ask for an internal
review. Please make a request in writing to the Information Governance
Team at [2][email address]. If you request such a review and are not
content with its outcome, then you have a right to apply directly to the
Information Commissioner for a decision.  The Information Commissioner can
be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Kind regards,

FOI Team

References

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1. https://self.reading.gov.uk/Forms/Freedo...
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