Dame Janet Smith Review

The request was refused by British Broadcasting Corporation.

Dear British Broadcasting Corporation,

I recently placed a Freedom of Information Act request for information that you failed to respond to, partly on the basis that it was too broad (RFI20141170).

Please consider this as a new request on the same topic. As you might be aware, the FOIA is often described as purpose and applicant blind. This means that any member of the public can request any information and the public authority is not entitled to know the purpose/rationale of their request. In this case, as it may assist your handling of my request, I volunteer the fact that I am seeking to establish whether senior BBC staff members exerted any pressure on members of the Dame Janet Smith Review team to delay publication of the review findings.

Please provide all information contained in any correspondence between senior BBC staff members and members of the Dame Janet Smith Review team (or Counsel/Secretariat to the Review) that relates to the scheduled publication date of the review findings.

I am only seeking relevant information produced since 1st January 2013. By senior BBC staff member, I mean any member of staff named on the following BBC web page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/insidet...

I do hope you might be able to fulfill this slightly narrower request.

Yours faithfully,

Dr T. Jackson

FOI Enquiries, British Broadcasting Corporation

Dear T Jackson

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, as detailed in your email below. Your request was received on 13th August 2014. We will deal with your request as promptly as possible, and at the latest within 20 working days. If you have any queries about your request, please contact us at the address below.

The reference number for your request is RFI20141319

Kind regards

The Information Policy & Compliance Team

BBC Freedom of Information
BC2 B6, Broadcast Centre
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TP

www.bbc.co.uk/foi
Email: [BBC request email]

Tel: 020 8008 2882

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Dear FOI Enquiries,

Your response to my request for information, RFI20141319, is now delayed. As a consequence the BBC is (yet again) in breach of section 10 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Unless a response is provided within the next 3 working days I will complain (yet again) to the Information Commissioner's Office.

Yours sincerely,

Dr T. Jackson

FOI Enquiries, British Broadcasting Corporation

Dear Dr T. Jackson

We apologise that we have not been able to respond to your request within the statutory time for compliance. It is taking longer than we expected to identify and review the documents we hold in order to establish whether they include any relevant information specific to your request.

We expect that we will be able to respond to your request in the week beginning 22 September 2014.

Yours sincerely

The Information Policy & Compliance Team

BBC Freedom of Information
BC2 B6, Broadcast Centre
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TP

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FOI Enquiries, British Broadcasting Corporation

Dear Dr T. Jackson

We apologise that we have not been able to respond this week as we had expected. We can assure you that we are making every effort to respond to your request as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely

The Information Policy & Compliance Team

BBC Freedom of Information
BC2 B6, Broadcast Centre
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TP

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Dear FOI Enquiries,

Thank you for the update on my request, RFI20141319.

When I eventually complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, I will be sure to highlight the extent of your unlawful delay in providing a response or valid refusal notice.

Yours sincerely,

Dr T. Jackson

T. Jackson left an annotation ()

What a surprise: Another week, still no response.

Dear FOI Enquiries,

Just another quick reminder that I am still waiting for a response or valid refusal notice for my request for information, RFI20141319.

I appreciate you might be feverishly working away on redactions, but that in no way detracts from the fact the 20 working day limit is fixed in law.

Your response is now well overdue, so you are in breach of section 10 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Yours sincerely,

Dr T. Jackson

Dear FOI Enquiries,

A further reminder that I am still waiting for a response or valid refusal notice for my request for information, RFI20141319.

Your response is now more than a month overdue.

Yours sincerely,

Dr T. Jackson

Dear FOI Enquiries,

Please conduct an internal review into the BBC's handling (or rather non-handling) of my request for information, RFI20141319.

The basis of my review request is as follows: The BBC has failed to provide either a response or valid refusal notice within the statutory 20 working day time limit. The BBC is therefore in breach of section 10 of the Act.

I remind the BBC of the need to release either the information or a valid refusal notice at the earliest opportunity. This review request in no way detracts from the legal obligations that the BBC has thus far failed to adhere to (yet again).

Yours sincerely,

Dr T. Jackson

FOI Enquiries, British Broadcasting Corporation

1 Attachment

Dear Dr Jackson,

 

We write further to your request for internal review dated 21 October 2014
and attach the BBC’s decision in this matter.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

The Information Policy & Compliance Team

 

BBC Freedom of Information

BC2 B6, Broadcast Centre

201 Wood Lane

London W12 7TP

 

[1]www.bbc.co.uk/foi

Email: [2][BBC request email]

 

Tel: 020 8008 2882

 

 

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/www.bbc.co.uk/foi
2. mailto:[BBC request email]

FOI Enquiries, British Broadcasting Corporation

1 Attachment

Dear Dr T. Jackson

Please see the attached response to your request, reference RFI20141319.

Once again we apologise for the delay in sending you this response.

Yours sincerely

The Information Policy & Compliance Team

BBC Freedom of Information
BC2 B6, Broadcast Centre
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TP

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Dear FOI Enquiries,

Further to your partial response to RFI20141319, please continue to consider the release of the information the BBC considers to be exempt under section 36 of the Act.

I look forward to your final response.

Yours sincerely,

Dr T. Jackson

FOI Enquiries, British Broadcasting Corporation

Dear Dr T. Jackson

In our response of 5 November 2014 we estimated that we would have reached a decision on where the balance of public interest lies by today's date.

We apologise that we have not yet reached our decision.

Yours sincerely

The Information Policy & Compliance Team

BBC Freedom of Information
BC2 B6, Broadcast Centre
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TP

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Dear FOI Enquiries,

Over the years I have learnt to take everything the BBC says with a big pinch of salt, so your latest failure comes as little surprise.

It's something else I can put in my complaint to the ICO when the occasion finally arises.

Yours sincerely,

Dr T. Jackson

Dear FOI Enquiries,

I'm still waiting and adding more and more information to my ICO complaint form.

Yours sincerely,

Dr T. Jackson

T. Jackson left an annotation ()

This has now gone to the ICO.

FOI Enquiries, British Broadcasting Corporation

2 Attachments

Dear Dr T. Jackson

Please see the attached response to your request. We have also attached a copy of the Qualified Person's written opinion.

Once again we apologise for the delay in our response.

Yours sincerely

The Information Policy & Compliance Team

BBC Freedom of Information
BC2 B6, Broadcast Centre
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TP

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Dear FOI Enquiries,

Thank you for providing your final ruling on the application of a section 36 exemption to my request for information, RF20141419.

As the BBC is probably aware by now, I have made a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office about its handling of my request (ICO ref: FS50565090).

I do not believe the BBC has valid grounds to refuse disclosure of all of the information provided, so I will be asking the Commissioner to evaluate the BBC's application of the section 36 exemption.

I will also be asking the Commissioner to issue another Decision Notice upholding my complaint that the BBC has breached section 10 of the Act.

The BBC should be in no doubt that I am prepared to take this to the First-tier Tribunal if necessary.

Yours sincerely,

Dr T. Jackson

T. Jackson left an annotation ()

Please see a new website I'm working on for more of my requests: http://www.foibyproxy.com