Disclosure log
Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,
Please provide me with your disclosure log for employees interests for the last five years to the date if reply.
Yours faithfully,
[Name Removed]
PROTECT
4th December 2013
Case Reference Number IRQ0522280
Dear [Name Removed]
Request for Information
Thank you for your correspondence which we received on the 18
November 2013, in which you have made a request for information held by
the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) (Please provide me with your
disclosure log for employees interests for the last five years to the date
if reply). Your request has been passed to the Information Governance
Department to deal with.
Your request is being dealt with in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. We will respond promptly, and no later than the
16 December 2013 which is 20 working days from the day after we received
your request.
Yours sincerely
Iman Elmehdawy
Lead Information Governance Officer
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
PROTECT
11th December 2013
Case Reference Number IRQ0522280
Dear [Name Removed]
Further to our acknowledgment of 4 December 2013 we are now in a position
to respond to your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
On 18 November 2013 you requested the following information:
“Please provide me with your disclosure log for employees interests for
the last five years to the date if reply.”
Response to request
Under section 21 of the FOIA we are not required to provide information in
response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you from
another source. The register of interests for the last five years which
you have requested is available from the National Archives via the
following links on their website:
Links to Register of Interests- National Archive pages
[1]http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.u...
[2]http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.u...
[3]http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.u...
[4]http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.u...
[5]http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.u...
[6]http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.u...
[7]http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.u...
The current entries on the register are available on our website via the
following link
[8]http://www.ico.org.uk/about_us/our_organ...
I hope you find the provided information of assistance
If you are dissatisfied with the response you have received and wish to
request a review of our decision or make a complaint about how your
request has been handled you should write to the Information Governance
Department at the address below or e-mail
[9][email address]
Your request for internal review should be submitted to us within 40
working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request
received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the
Commissioner.
If having exhausted the review process you are not content that your
request or review has been dealt with correctly, you have a further right
of appeal to this office in our capacity as the statutory complaint
handler under the legislation. To make such an application, please write
to the First Contact Team, at the address below or visit the ‘Complaints’
section of our website to make a Freedom of Information Act or
Environmental Information Regulations complaint online.
A copy of our review procedure is available [10]here
Yours sincerely
Iman Elmehdawy
Lead Information Governance Officer
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
References
Visible links
1. http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.u...
2. http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.u...
3. http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.u...
4. http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.u...
5. http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.u...
6. http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.u...
7. http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.u...
8. http://www.ico.org.uk/about_us/our_organ...
9. mailto:[email address]
10. http://www.ico.gov.uk/about_us/~/media/d...
Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,
Thank you.
But are all employes external employment and business links recorded?
Ie Any employee who is receiving any form of financial reward from external companies? Or in business with them?
Surely the ICO has this requirement from its employees?
Yours faithfully,
[Name Removed]
Thank you for emailing the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). This
is an automatic acknowledgement to tell you we have received your email
safely. Please do not reply to this email.
If your email was about a new complaint or request for advice it will be
considered by our Customer Contact Department. One of our case officers
will be in touch as soon as possible. If you have sent us a complaint we
may need specific information from you before we are able to consider it.
You can find out the type of information we would need from the
[1]complaints section of our website.
If your email was about an ongoing case we are dealing with it will be
allocated to the person handling your case.
If your email was about a case you have already submitted, but is yet to
be allocated to one of our case officers your email will be added to your
original correspondence and will be considered when your case is
allocated. Please note that further correspondence may not be viewed until
your case is allocated to a case officer.
If you require any further assistance please contact our Helpline on
0303 123 1113 or [2]01625 545745 if you prefer to use a national rate
number.
We will not respond to correspondence where the ICO is copied in. If
you have a matter you would like to discuss with us please call our
Helpline on the number above.
Thank you for contacting the Information Commissioner's Office
ICO Customer Contact Department
Making a request for information held by the ICO?
For more information about the ICO’s handling of requests for information
please visit our [3]Information about us section of our website.
Equality and Diversity
The Information Commissioner’s Office is committed to providing equality
for all and opposes all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination. We
have produced a questionnaire to help us to produce a profile of our
customers. The questionnaire can be found on our [4]Equality and Diversity
webpage.
Our newsletter
Details of how to sign up for our quarterly newsletter can be found at
[5]Information Commissioner's Office enewsletter.
Find us on Twitter at [6]http://www.twitter.com/ICOnews
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
References
Visible links
1. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.ico.gov.uk/complaints.aspx
2. file:///tmp/blocked::tel:01625 545745
3. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.ico.gov.uk/about_us.aspx
4. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.ico.gov.uk/about_us/how_we_work/equality_and_diversity.aspx
5. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.ico.gov.uk/tools_and_resources/enewsletter.aspx
6. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.twitter.com/ICOnews
PROTECT
24th December 2013
Case Reference Number IRQ0522280
Dear [Name Removed]
Thank you for your follow up correspondence of 11 December 2013.
In this correspondence you asked:
"But are all employes external employment and business links recorded?
Ie Any employee who is receiving any form of financial reward from
external companies? Or in business with them?
Surely the ICO has this requirement from its employees?"
In response to your questions the links/interests of Management Board
members are declared on our register of interests a copy of which has been
provided to you.
The ICO’s code of conduct requires staff to inform us where there may be a
conflict of interest between their work and their outside interests, we
have also provided you with a copy of our code of conduct in response to a
previous request .
We do also ask staff to inform us of secondary employment.Individual staff
contracts have the following clause:
“You must not become involved in activities which might restrict the time
or attention which you give to your employment, except with the
Information Commissioner's express permission. You must notify Human
Resources if you undertake any other employment.”
I hope the above clarifies your query
Yours sincerely
Iman Elmehdawy
Lead Information Governance Officer
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
Dear Information Commissioner’s Office
Thank you.
Do you gave a file of all employees external business and commercial interests?
Redacted, of course.
Yours faithfully,
[Name Removed]
Thank you for emailing the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). This
is an automatic acknowledgement to tell you we have received your email
safely. Please do not reply to this email.
If your email was about a new complaint or request for advice it will be
considered by our Customer Contact Department. One of our case officers
will be in touch as soon as possible. If you have sent us a complaint we
may need specific information from you before we are able to consider it.
You can find out the type of information we would need from the
[1]complaints section of our website.
If your email was about an ongoing case we are dealing with it will be
allocated to the person handling your case.
If your email was about a case you have already submitted, but is yet to
be allocated to one of our case officers your email will be added to your
original correspondence and will be considered when your case is
allocated. Please note that further correspondence may not be viewed until
your case is allocated to a case officer.
If you require any further assistance please contact our Helpline on
0303 123 1113 or [2]01625 545745 if you prefer to use a national rate
number.
We will not respond to correspondence where the ICO is copied in. If
you have a matter you would like to discuss with us please call our
Helpline on the number above.
Thank you for contacting the Information Commissioner's Office
ICO Customer Contact Department
Making a request for information held by the ICO?
For more information about the ICO’s handling of requests for information
please visit our [3]Information about us section of our website.
Equality and Diversity
The Information Commissioner’s Office is committed to providing equality
for all and opposes all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination. We
have produced a questionnaire to help us to produce a profile of our
customers. The questionnaire can be found on our [4]Equality and Diversity
webpage.
Our newsletter
Details of how to sign up for our quarterly newsletter can be found at
[5]Information Commissioner's Office enewsletter.
Find us on Twitter at [6]http://www.twitter.com/ICOnews
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
References
Visible links
1. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.ico.gov.uk/complaints.aspx
2. file:///tmp/blocked::tel:01625 545745
3. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.ico.gov.uk/about_us.aspx
4. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.ico.gov.uk/about_us/how_we_work/equality_and_diversity.aspx
5. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.ico.gov.uk/tools_and_resources/enewsletter.aspx
6. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.twitter.com/ICOnews
PROTECT
15th January 2014
Case Reference Number IRQ0527194
Dear [Name Removed]
Request for Information
Thank you for your correspondence dated 24/12/2013 in which you requested:
" Do you gave a file of all employees external business and commercial
interests?Redacted, of course."
Your request is being dealt with in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 .We will respond promptly, and no later than 27
January 2014 which is 20 working days from the day after we received your
request.
Should you wish to reply to this email, please be careful not to amend the
information in the ‘subject’ field. This will ensure that the information
is added directly to your case. However, please be aware that this is an
automated process; the information will not be read by a member of our
staff until your case is allocated to a request handler.
Yours sincerely
Iman Elmehdawy
Lead Information Governance Officer
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,
WDTK states this is overdue.
Yours faithfully,
[Name Removed]
Thank you for contacting the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
This message is to confirm that we have received your correspondence.
Please do not reply to this email.
If you have submitted a new complaint
We aim to provide an initial response and case reference number within 30
days.
If you have requested advice
We aim to respond to requests for advice within 14 days.
If your correspondence relates to an existing case
This will be added to your case and considered on allocation to a case
officer.
Copied correspondence
Please note that we do not respond to copied correspondence. If you have a
matter you would like to discuss please call our Helpline on 0303 123 1113
(local rate) or 01625 545745 if you prefer to use a national rate number.
Yours sincerely,
ICO Customer Contact Department
Making a request for information held by the ICO?
For more information about the ICO’s handling of requests for information
please visit our Information about us section of our website.
Equality and Diversity
The Information Commissioner’s Office is committed to providing equality
for all and opposes all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination. We
have produced a questionnaire to help us to produce a profile of our
customers. The questionnaire can be found on our Equality and Diversity
webpage.
Our newsletter
Details of how to sign up for our quarterly newsletter can be found at
Information Commissioner's Office e-newsletter.
Find us on Twitter at [1]http://www.twitter.com/ICOnews
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
References
Visible links
1. http://www.twitter.com/ICOnews
Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Information Commissioner’s Office's handling of my FOI request 'Disclosure log'.
The request asks for all employees, not just senior management.
The information should be on file - unless employees can be employed, run businesses or have business links without informing the ICO.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/d...
Yours faithfully,
[Name Removed]
PROTECT
24th January 2014
Case Reference Number IRQ0527194
Dear [Name Removed]
Further to our acknowledgement dated 15 January 2014 we are now in a
position to respond to your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.
On 24 December 2013 you requested the following information:
“Do you gave a file of all employees external business and commercial
interests? Redacted of course.”
By the way of background, on 18 November 2013 you requested the following
information:” Please provide me with your disclosure log for employees
interests for the last five years to the date if reply” .We responded to
this request providing you with links to the Register of Interests which
is the information we disclose routinely about the Information
Commissioner and his Management Board. We do not routinely disclose this
information in relation to other staff.
On 11 December you replied to our response posing the following question:”
But are all employes external employment and business links recorded?Ie
Any employee who is receiving any form of financial reward from external
companies? Or in business with them? Surely the ICO has this requirement
from its employees?”
On 24 December 2013 we responded to your queries providing you with
information on employees’ obligations in relation to external business and
commercial interests’ declarations.
You replied on 24 December 2013 asking for “Do you gave a file of all
employees external business and commercial interests? Redacted of course.”
Response to request
We understand that you are asking whether we hold a file of all employees’
external business and commercial interests and that we disclose that file,
with appropriate redactions.
As explained to you on 24 December 2013 the staff Code of Conduct requires
that employees declare any interests where there may be a conflict with
their work. In response to your request it may be helpful to clarify that
we do not hold a separate file designed to only log the declared interests
of employees. Rather, should an employee declare an interest it would be
recorded on their own individual personnel file.
However, we understand that you are interested in the information itself
(the declared interests) and so have considered whether we can provide
this to you under the FOIA.
Unfortunately we are unable to provide you with this. This is in
accordance with section 12 of the FOIA; a full explanation is given below.
Section 12 of the FOIA makes clear that a public authority (such as the
ICO) is not obliged to comply with an FOIA request if the authority
estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the
‘appropriate limit'. The ‘appropriate limit’ for the ICO, as determined
in the ‘Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and
Fees) Regulations 2004’ is £450. We have determined that £450 would
equate to 18 hours work.
We hold 392 employee personnel files other than those who our routinely
published in the Register of Interests. .We have done a sample check and
estimate that it will take us around 3 minutes to check each file,
however, on some occasions this may be much longer. This means that it
will take us around 19.6 hours to locate this information which is above
the 18 hours specified by in section 12 FOIA. It is for this reason that
we are unable to provide you with the information you requested.
If you can narrow your request, we may be able to provide the information
you are seeking. For example if you narrow you request to a specific group
of ICO employees e.g. Heads of Departments, we may be able to manually
check the relevant files and provide you with redacted information as
requested. It may be helpful to mention that our conversation with the HR
department indicates that a very small percentage of employees would have
external and commercial interests.
Finally, we are committed to providing the best standards of service to
all our customers. For this reason we do ask our customers to consider the
impact repeated and voluminous correspondence (both enquiries and
requests) has on the service we provide. For this reason we have produced
a list of useful suggestions as a quick reference tool to help users make
effective freedom of information requests. Please find below a link to
this list.
[1]http://ico.org.uk/for_the_public/officia...
If you are dissatisfied with the response you have received and wish to
request a review of our decision or make a complaint about how your
request has been handled you should write to the Information Governance
Department at the address below or e-mail
[2][email address]
Your request for internal review should be submitted to us within 40
working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request
received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the
Commissioner.
If having exhausted the review process you are not content that your
request or review has been dealt with correctly, you have a further right
of appeal to this office in our capacity as the statutory complaint
handler under the legislation. To make such an application, please write
to the First Contact Team, at the address below or visit the ‘Complaints’
section of our website to make a Freedom of Information Act or
Environmental Information Regulations complaint online.
A copy of our review procedure is available [3]here
Yours sincerely
Iman Elmehdawy
Lead Information Governance Officer
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
References
Visible links
1. http://ico.org.uk/for_the_public/officia...
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.ico.gov.uk/about_us/~/media/d...
Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,
Thank you.
I request the information as described above on any employee mentioned in any FoI request that I have made ( excluding board members - which you have already supplied ) , or who us shown to have had access to the files:
Case Reference Number
IRQ0524684....my DP request, which is now late.
And Case Reference Numbers
FS50370204 (now FS50525753)
Which are the same case but for which no Decision has ever been produced.
Yours faithfully,
[Name Removed]
Thank you for emailing the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). This
is an automatic acknowledgement to tell you we have received your email
safely. Please do not reply to this email.
If your email was about a new complaint or request for advice it will be
considered by our Customer Contact Department. One of our case officers
will be in touch as soon as possible. If you have sent us a complaint we
may need specific information from you before we are able to consider it.
You can find out the type of information we would need from the
[1]complaints section of our website.
If your email was about an ongoing case we are dealing with it will be
allocated to the person handling your case.
If your email was about a case you have already submitted, but is yet to
be allocated to one of our case officers your email will be added to your
original correspondence and will be considered when your case is
allocated. Please note that further correspondence may not be viewed until
your case is allocated to a case officer.
If you require any further assistance please contact our Helpline on
0303 123 1113 or [2]01625 545745 if you prefer to use a national rate
number.
We will not respond to correspondence where the ICO is copied in. If
you have a matter you would like to discuss with us please call our
Helpline on the number above.
Thank you for contacting the Information Commissioner's Office
ICO Customer Contact Department
Making a request for information held by the ICO?
For more information about the ICO’s handling of requests for information
please visit our [3]Information about us section of our website.
Equality and Diversity
The Information Commissioner’s Office is committed to providing equality
for all and opposes all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination. We
have produced a questionnaire to help us to produce a profile of our
customers. The questionnaire can be found on our [4]Equality and Diversity
webpage.
Our newsletter
Details of how to sign up for our quarterly newsletter can be found at
[5]Information Commissioner's Office enewsletter.
Find us on Twitter at [6]http://www.twitter.com/ICOnews
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
References
Visible links
1. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.ico.gov.uk/complaints.aspx
2. file:///tmp/blocked::tel:01625 545745
3. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.ico.gov.uk/about_us.aspx
4. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.ico.gov.uk/about_us/how_we_work/equality_and_diversity.aspx
5. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.ico.gov.uk/tools_and_resources/enewsletter.aspx
6. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.twitter.com/ICOnews
PROTECT
29th January 2014
Case Reference Number IRQ0528851
Dear [Name Removed]
Request for Information
Thank you for your correspondence dated 28 January 2014 in which you
asked:
I request the information as described above on any employee mentioned in
any FoI request that I have made ( excluding board members - which you
have already supplied) ,or who us shown to have had access to the files:
Case Reference Number
IRQ0524684....my DP request, which is now late.
And Case Reference Numbers
FS50370204 (now FS50525753)
Which are the same case but for which no Decision has ever been produced.
Your request is being dealt with in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. We will respond promptly, and no later than 25
February 2014 which is 20 working days from the day after we received your
request.
Should you wish to reply to this email, please be careful not to amend the
information in the ‘subject’ field. This will ensure that the information
is added directly to your case. However, please be aware that this is an
automated process; the information will not be read by a member of our
staff until your case is allocated to a request handler.
Yours sincerely
Iman Elmehdawy
Lead Information Governance Officer
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
PROTECT
30th January 2014
Case Reference Number IRQ0522280
Dear [Name Removed]
Reference is made to the following correspondence which we received from
you on 21 January 2013:
“Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information
reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Information Commissioner’s
Office's handling of my FOI request 'Disclosure log'.
The request asks for all employees, not just senior management.
The information should be on file - unless employees can be employed, run
businesses or have business links without informing the ICO. “
I am writing to seek confirmation whether you still require a review in
light of the correspondence we exchanged with you in relation to your
requests for employees’ interests.
As you recall we handled the request for the disclosure log in relation to
employees’ interests under the reference number IRQ0522280. Subsequently
you asked for all employees’ details under the reference number IRQ0527194
which we refused under section 12. You have since narrowed your request
and we are currently considering the reformulated request under
IRQ0528851. A response on your reformulated request is due out 25 February
2014.
We would be most grateful if you could confirm in light of the above if
you still require a review of your request handled under the reference
number IRQ0522280.
Yours sincerely
Iman Elmehdawy
Lead Information Governance Officer
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,
The narrowed request is fine.
Yours faithfully,
[Name Removed]
Thank you for emailing the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). This
is an automatic acknowledgement to tell you we have received your email
safely. Please do not reply to this email.
If your email was about a new complaint or request for advice it will be
considered by our Customer Contact Department. One of our case officers
will be in touch as soon as possible. If you have sent us a complaint we
may need specific information from you before we are able to consider it.
You can find out the type of information we would need from the
[1]complaints section of our website.
If your email was about an ongoing case we are dealing with it will be
allocated to the person handling your case.
If your email was about a case you have already submitted, but is yet to
be allocated to one of our case officers your email will be added to your
original correspondence and will be considered when your case is
allocated. Please note that further correspondence may not be viewed until
your case is allocated to a case officer.
If you require any further assistance please contact our Helpline on
0303 123 1113 or [2]01625 545745 if you prefer to use a national rate
number.
We will not respond to correspondence where the ICO is copied in. If
you have a matter you would like to discuss with us please call our
Helpline on the number above.
Thank you for contacting the Information Commissioner's Office
ICO Customer Contact Department
Making a request for information held by the ICO?
For more information about the ICO’s handling of requests for information
please visit our [3]Information about us section of our website.
Equality and Diversity
The Information Commissioner’s Office is committed to providing equality
for all and opposes all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination. We
have produced a questionnaire to help us to produce a profile of our
customers. The questionnaire can be found on our [4]Equality and Diversity
webpage.
Our newsletter
Details of how to sign up for our quarterly newsletter can be found at
[5]Information Commissioner's Office enewsletter.
Find us on Twitter at [6]http://www.twitter.com/ICOnews
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
References
Visible links
1. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.ico.gov.uk/complaints.aspx
2. file:///tmp/blocked::tel:01625 545745
3. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.ico.gov.uk/about_us.aspx
4. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.ico.gov.uk/about_us/how_we_work/equality_and_diversity.aspx
5. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.ico.gov.uk/tools_and_resources/enewsletter.aspx
6. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.twitter.com/ICOnews
PROTECT
21st February 2014
Case Reference Number IRQ0528851
Dear [Name Removed]
Further to our acknowledgement dated 29 January 2014 we are now in a
position to respond to your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act.
On 24 December 2013 you submitted the following request for information:
“Do you gave a file of all employees external business and commercial
interests? Redacted of course.”
This request was refused under section 12 of the Freedom of Information
Act (cost of compliance).
You subsequently submitted the following reformulated request on 28
January 2014:
“I request the information as described above on any employee mentioned in
any FoI request that I have made ( excluding board members - which you
have already supplied) ,or who us shown to have had access to the files:
Case Reference Number
IRQ0524684....my DP request, which is now late.
And Case Reference Numbers
FS50370204 (now FS50525753)
Which are the same case but for which no Decision has ever been produced.”
Response to request of 28 January 2014
We consider that the following falls within the scope of your request:
* information we hold on the external business and commercial interests
of the members of staff mentioned in any FOI request that you made to
the ICO
* information we hold on the external business and commercial interests
of the members of staff who have had access to the files IRQ0524684,
FS50370204 and FS50525753.
In response to your request, the Information Commissioners Office neither
confirms nor denies that it holds information falling within the scope
specified in your request. The duty in Section 1(1)(a) of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 does not apply, by virtue of Section 40 (2) and (5)
of that Act. This should not be taken as an indication that the
information you requested is or is not held by the ICO.
Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) allows a
public authority to withhold information from a response to a request
under the FOIA when the information requested is personal data relating to
someone other than the requestor, and its disclosure would contravene one
of the Data Protection principles.
We consider that such a disclosure would be unfair and in breach of the
first Data Protection principle which states that – “Personal data shall
be processed fairly and lawfully …”
Section 40 (5) provides that the duty to confirm or deny still arises
unless the confirmation or denial itself would breach the data protection
principles.
We do acknowledge that you have indicated that you would be happy to
receive the information in a redacted format. However, it is important
with this type of information that we maintain a consistent line in order
to avoid inadvertently disclosing personal data about our staff in a way
that would be unfair.
It is important to remember that the register of interests and the policy
which guides it are there to ensure that ICO staff do not have interests
which conflict with their work for the Information Commissioner's Office
As is appropriate and as has already been pointed out to you, the
interests of very senior staff within the ICO are published on our
website.
I am sorry that on this occasion we are not able to provide the
information that you have requested but I hope our reasoning is clear.
However, If you are dissatisfied with the response you have received and
wish to request a review of our decision or make a complaint about how
your request has been handled you should write to the Information
Governance Department at the address below or e-mail
[1][email address]
Your request for internal review should be submitted to us within 40
working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request
received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the
Commissioner.
If having exhausted the review process you are not content that your
request or review has been dealt with correctly, you have a further right
of appeal to this office in our capacity as the statutory complaint
handler under the legislation. To make such an application, please write
to the First Contact Team, at the address below or visit the ‘Complaints’
section of our website to make a Freedom of Information Act or
Environmental Information Regulations complaint online.
A copy of our review procedure is available [2]here
Yours sincerely
Iman Elmehdawy
Lead Information Governance Officer
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
References
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1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.ico.gov.uk/about_us/~/media/d...
Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,
Thank you but I asked for a redacted list, so I do not understand how it would infringe Personal Data.
Could you please explain.
Thanks
Yours faithfully,
[Name Removed]
Thank you for contacting the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). This
message is to confirm that we have received your correspondence. Please do
not reply to this email.
If you have submitted a new complaint
We aim to provide an initial response and case reference number within 30
days.
If you have requested advice
We aim to respond to requests for advice within 14 days.
If your correspondence relates to an existing case
This will be added to your case and considered on allocation to a case
officer.
Copied correspondence
Please note that we do not respond to copied correspondence. If you have a
matter you would like to discuss please call our helpline on 0303 123 1113
(local rate) or 01625 545745 if you prefer to use a national rate number.
Yours sincerely,
ICO Customer Contact Department
[1]Making a request for information held by the ICO
For more information about the ICO’s handling of requests for information
please visit [2]http://ico.org.uk/about_us/how_we_comply
[3]Our e-newsletter
Details of how to sign up for our monthly e-newsletter can be found at
[4]http://ico.org.uk/news/e-newsletter
[5]Twitter
Find us on Twitter at
[6]https://twitter.com/iconews
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
References
Visible links
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2. http://ico.org.uk/about_us/how_we_comply
3. http://ico.org.uk/news/e-newsletter
4. http://ico.org.uk/news/e-newsletter
5. https://twitter.com/iconews
6. https://twitter.com/iconews
PROTECT
28th February 2014
Case Reference Number IRQ0528851
Dear [Name Removed]
Thank you for your email of 21 January 2014 in relation to our response to
your request for information about employees’ interests.
In your email you ask “Thank you but I asked for a redacted list, so I do
not understand how it would infringe Personal Data. Could you please
explain.”
By way of explanation, we have a policy on disclosure of staff information
which guides our decision on what personal information about staff we
would put in the public domain. To meet the reasonable expectations of our
staff we need to ensure that we do not inadvertently put personal data in
the public domain. Failure to meet reasonable expectations of staff would
be considered unfair and as such would breach the first data protection
principle which requires personal data to be dealt with fairly and
lawfully.
On this occasion, we considered that confirming or denying we hold
information would breach the Data Protection Act. It is important to
reiterate that the register of interests, the code of conduct and the
contractual obligation are there to ensure that ICO staff does not have
interests which conflict with their work for the Information
Commissioner's Office.
I hope the above explanation is of assistance to you.
Yours sincerely
Iman Elmehdawy
Lead Information Governance Officer
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,
Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,
Thank you.
But, please could you explain why, if the DP Act covers the release of ICO employees' information.....why is it perfectly acceptable for the ICO to divulge a requestor / complainant's files and information to:
1. A non-ICO- employed person, personally involved in the complaint.
2. An ICO Stakeholder...as stakeholders are not ICO employees.
....without requesting complainant's permission to do so.
As I have not been able to find any reference to those using the ICO's services signing away their rights to privacy under the DP Act.
I will put the as a new request to avoid confusion.
Yours faithfully,
[Name Removed]
Thank you for contacting the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). This
message is to confirm that we have received your correspondence. Please do
not reply to this email.
If you have submitted a new complaint
We aim to provide an initial response and case reference number within 30
days.
If you have requested advice
We aim to respond to requests for advice within 14 days.
If your correspondence relates to an existing case
This will be added to your case and considered on allocation to a case
officer.
Copied correspondence
Please note that we do not respond to copied correspondence. If you have a
matter you would like to discuss please call our helpline on 0303 123 1113
(local rate) or 01625 545745 if you prefer to use a national rate number.
Yours sincerely,
ICO Customer Contact Department
[1]Making a request for information held by the ICO
For more information about the ICO’s handling of requests for information
please visit [2]http://ico.org.uk/about_us/how_we_comply
[3]Our e-newsletter
Details of how to sign up for our monthly e-newsletter can be found at
[4]http://ico.org.uk/news/e-newsletter
[5]Twitter
Find us on Twitter at
[6]https://twitter.com/iconews
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk
References
Visible links
1. http://ico.org.uk/about_us/how_we_comply
2. http://ico.org.uk/about_us/how_we_comply
3. http://ico.org.uk/news/e-newsletter
4. http://ico.org.uk/news/e-newsletter
5. https://twitter.com/iconews
6. https://twitter.com/iconews
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