EHRC submissions to body scanner judicial review case.

Equality and Human Rights Commission did not have the information requested.

Dear Equality and Human Rights Commission,

Please could you supply me with the following:

(1)A copy of the EHRC submissions that were prepared for or presented to the High Court case (judicial review) of Haneefa Sarwar V the Department for Transport (DfT) with regard to the use of body scanners in UK airports. This information is still very much in the public interest.

(2)Written confirmation that the Secretary of State for Transport has stated that X-ray body scanners were being dropped from UK airports from 3rd November 2012. The DfT have made no such public announcement, and the latest Direction to Manchester Airport states that ANY type of scanner can be used at the airport(there is no explicit preclusion of X-ray backscatter).

(3)Does the EHRC have any information of why the Secretary of State for Transport has decided to remove X-ray body scanners from UK airports bearing in mind that the Secretary of State for Transport stated at the Farnborough speech in July 2012 that X-ray backscatter scanners offered the best form of airport security screening available.
If so could you please supply me with this information.

Yours faithfully,

M Boyce

Freedom of Information, Equality and Human Rights Commission

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Freedom of Information, Equality and Human Rights Commission

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M Boyce

 

Email: [FOI #148290 email]

 

Our Ref: FOI728  

 

 

04 February 2013

 

 

Dear M Boyce

 

Subject: Freedom of Information Request

 

Thank you for your recent email dated 02 February 2013 (received on Monday
04 February) in which you make the following request:

 

" Please could you supply me with the following:

    

     (1)A copy of the EHRC submissions that were prepared for or

     presented to the High Court case (judicial review) of Haneefa

     Sarwar V the Department for Transport (DfT) with regard to the use

     of body scanners in UK airports. This information is still very

     much in the public interest.

    

     (2)Written confirmation that the Secretary of State for Transport

     has stated that X-ray body scanners were being dropped from UK

     airports from 3rd November 2012. The DfT have made no such public

     announcement, and the latest Direction to Manchester Airport states

     that ANY type of scanner can be used at the airport(there is no

     explicit preclusion of X-ray backscatter).

    

     (3)Does the EHRC have any information of why the Secretary of State

     for Transport has decided to remove X-ray body scanners from UK

     airports bearing in mind that the Secretary of State for Transport

     stated at the Farnborough speech in July 2012 that X-ray

     backscatter scanners offered the best form of airport security

     screening available.

 

     If so could you please supply me with this information."

 

 

As your email amounts to a request for information that the Commission may
hold, in accordance with the requirements of section 10 of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, we will respond promptly, and in any event no later
than 20 working days following the date of receipt of the request. In this
instance a response will be with you no later than 04 March 2013. If for
any reason we are not able to meet this deadline, we will notify you and
give you an indication of when we will send you a full response.

 

If you have any queries please contact us using the details below.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Philippa Bullen

Corporate Communications Officer

 

Equality and Human Rights Commission

2nd Floor Arndale House
The Arndale Centre
Manchester
M4 3AQ

 

Email: [2][Equality and Human Rights Commission request email]

 

Tel: 0161 829 8323

Text Phone: 0203 117 0238

Fax: 0161 829 8332

 

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Freedom of Information, Equality and Human Rights Commission

3 Attachments

Dear M Boyce

 

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

 

I would note that the clarity of the attached documents have been
compromised during the scanning process so do please let me know if you
would like me to send you hard copies.

 

Kind regards

 

Philippa Bullen

Corporate Communications Officer

 

Equality and Human Rights Commission

2nd Floor Arndale House
The Arndale Centre
Manchester
M4 3AQ

Email: [1][Equality and Human Rights Commission request email]

 

Tel: 0161 829 8323

Text Phone: 0203 117 0238

Fax: 0161 829 8332

 

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M Boyce left an annotation ()

The actions of the EHRC are totally unacceptable.
Firstly I am sent a copy of a document (application of EHRC to intervene in a body scanner judicial review)which is in large part completely illegible. This document should not have been sent in this parlous state. In the interests of public transparency a legible copy should be included. This is very sloppy practice.
In an earlier FOI request I made on this subject the full legible document was included ( I have a hard copy of this)and no names were redacted from it. I have no problem with the legitimate redaction of names from documents, indeed I think it is very good practice. More seriously, however, the earlier full document has now mysteriously disppeared from my first FOI request. The handling of my two FOI requests is at best incompetent, and possibly worse.