Crown Premises Fire Inspection Group: Prisons and Young Offender Institutions

The request was partially successful.

Dear Home Office,

Please can you let me have copies of:

1. All fire safety inspection reports issued by CPFIG following inspections by them at prison and young offender establishments in the 12 months prior to the date of this request.

2. Copies of Non-Compliance Notices issued by CPFIG as a result of the inspections referred to in 1 above - including those addressed to contractors responsible for correcting defects identified in the inspections reports referred to in 1 above; and

3. Copies of Crown Enforcement Notices issued by CPFIG as a result of the inspections referred to in 1 above.

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Mark Leech FSA
Editor: The Prisons Handbook for England and Wales
@prisonsorguk

FOI Requests, Home Office

Dear Mr. Leech,

 

 

Thank you for contacting the Home Office with your request.

 

This has been assigned to a caseworker (case ref 52589). We will aim to
send you a full response by 28/03/2019 which is twenty working days from
the date we received your request.

 

If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

 

Thank you,

 

N McKenzie

Home Office

 

 

 

show quoted sections

FOI Responses, Home Office

1 Attachment

Please see the attached letter about your Freedom of Information request.

 

 

Home Office

2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF

[1]www.gov.uk/home-office

 

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. http://www.gov.uk/home-office

Dear Home Office,

Thank you for your reply informing me you need another month to make a decision.
Can I please have an internal review of this delay.
Twelve months ago you answered the same FOI request, for a period covering the previous 12 months almost straight away, what is so different this year that you cannot publish these reports straight away?

Yours faithfully,

mark leech

FOI Requests, Home Office

Mr Leech,

Please provide us with the FOI case reference that was allocated to your request.

Thank you,

J Douglas
Home Office
FOI Requests

show quoted sections

Dear J Douglas

Thank you for your email.

"Thank you for contacting the Home Office with your request.
This has been assigned to a caseworker (case ref 52589). We will aim to
send you a full response by 28/03/2019 which is twenty working days from
the date we received your request."

FOI [email address]

Yours sincerely,

Mark Leech

Dear Home Office,
Letter sent to the Private Office of the Home Secretary.
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I have asked for an internal review, you have ignored it regarding FOI request 'Crown Premises Fire Inspection Group: Prisons and Young Offender Institutions'.
You are completely mishandling this FOIA request, you are way outside the statutory time limits, you have not responded to my request for an internal review and now you claim not to even know what the reference numbers are and a month after I gave you these you have still not responded.
I have today written a letter to the Private Office of the Home Secretary, lodging a complaint as to your handling of this matter.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

Yours faithfully,

Mark FSA
Editor: The Prisons Handbook for England and Wales
@Prisonsorguk

FOI Requests, Home Office

Dear Mr Leech,

 

Thank you for contacting the Home Office. Your FOI request was PIT
extended until 29/04/2019 therefore it is classified as still in time. As
is the case your request is not subject to an Internal Review.

 

Your FOI request remains active and we will send you a response by
29/04/2019.

 

I have forward your email to the case officer dealing with your request
for their records.

 

 

Thank you,

 

N McKenzie

Home Office

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear N McKenzie,
Thank you.
What an amazing coincidence, on the very day that my letter complaining about the delay and the fact that the Home Office doesn't even know the reference number of my FOI request they issued me with, and had to ask me for it, lands in the Private Office of Home Secretary Sajid Javid, hey presto I get another reply.
Coincidence I am sure but the delay is frankly risible - CPFIG are an independent Inspectorate who carry out fire and safety inspections of prisons - this is all because last year I revealed the shocking failures of fire safety in our prisons - https://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analy...
The Freedom of Information Act is not there to be used as to shield by public authorities, but to give the public access to the information they have a right to.
I repeat CPFIG is an independent Safety Inspectorate - from whose reports we can all learn lessons.
Now please stop trying to conceal your inordinate delay behind excuses that frankly are risible - you will have to account for these actions before the Information Commissioner and it is advisable that you keep one eye on that stop that is inevitably further down this road.
I have copied this to Tom Lawrence, the Home Secretary's Press Officer, for his information.
Yours sincerely,
Mark Leech FRSA
Editor: The Prisons Handbook for England and Wales
@prisonsorguk

FOI Responses, Home Office

1 Attachment

Please see the attached letter about your Freedom of Information request.

 

 

Home Office

2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF

[1]www.gov.uk/home-office

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. http://www.gov.uk/home-office

FOI Responses, Home Office

2 Attachments

Please find attached our response to your Freedom of Information request.

 

 

Home Office

2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF

[1]www.gov.uk/home-office

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. http://www.gov.uk/home-office

Dear Home Office,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Home Office's handling of my FOI request 'Crown Premises Fire Inspection Group: Prisons and Young Offender Institutions'.

I have not received a response to my internal review request

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

Yours faithfully,

mark leech

FOI Requests, Home Office

Dear Mark Leech,

 

 

Thank you for contacting the Home Office. I have forward you email to the
case officer dealing with your internal review request for a response.

 

We cannot carry out an internal review of an internal review.

 

Thank you,

 

N McKenzie

Home Office

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear FOI Requests,

The Home Office have issued highly redacted copies of the requested reports - despite the fact that last year all the reports were issued without any redactions at all.
The internal review requested upheld their decision to redact on the basis that if prisoner know where fire weaknesses exist they may start fires there, but there is not a single recorded example of this happening - and it ignores the fact that many areas where fire weaknesses exist are in parts of the prison to which prisoners have not access at all.

Yours sincerely,

mark leech

FOI Requests, Home Office

Dear Mark Leech,

Thank you for contacting the Home Office. Your comments have been noted for the record.

Should you wish to submit a new FOI request on the subject matter you are free to do so bearing in mind the response you received to your initial request.

If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you,

N McKenzie
Home Office

show quoted sections