Emails from July 2015

The request was refused by HM Revenue and Customs.

Dear HM Revenue and Customs,

Please supply copies of all Emails (and any attachments therein) within and between HMRC staff , covering the period of July 2015 and that includes the phrase "loan charge" and/or "disguised remuneration".

Yours faithfully,

Stephen Campbell

FOI Team, HM Revenue and Customs

Our ref: FOI2021/20606

Dear Mr Campbell,

Freedom of Information Act 2000 Acknowledgement

Thank you for your communication of 2nd September which has been passed to
HMRC's Freedom of Information Team.

We have allocated the above reference which you should quote if you need
to contact us.

The Team will arrange for a reply to be sent to you which will either
comply with HMRC's obligations under Freedom of Information Act or, if we
think it's an enquiry that we don't need to address under the terms of the
Act, let you know why. If it is the latter we will, if possible, pass it
on to a more appropriate part of the Departmen t for answer.

As you will appreciate, the coronavirus pandemic has provided
unprecedented challenges for Government Departments including HMRC. Over
the coming weeks our priorities are to provide critical existing and new
Public Services for Government to support customers during this difficult
time. As a result, resources may be diverted away from usual compliance or
information rights work. HMRC aims to respond to all FOIA Requests within
20 working days. If for whatever reason this timescale cannot be complied
with HMRC will, where possible, write to you explaining the reason for the
delay and providing an estimated time for response.

Yours sincerely

HMRC Freedom of Information Act Team

FOI Team, HM Revenue and Customs

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Campbell,

We are writing in response to your request for information, received 2
September.

Yours sincerely,

HMRC Freedom of Information Team

Dear HM Revenue and Customs,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of HM Revenue and Customs's handling of my FOI request 'Emails from July 2015'.

I note that you have confirmed that you hold the information I have requested. However, you have quoted the rationale for the effort required as being related to the number of FTE staff in HMRC at that time, which is clearly not a valid proxy for the effort associated with fulfilling this particular request (as the emails concerned will, in reality, have been sent within and between a very small number of people within HMRC at that time).

HMRC cannot take into account the time you are likely to need to decide whether exemptions apply, to redact (edit out) exempt information, or to carry out the public interest test. On this basis, and given the fact that HMRC has eDiscovery software that it is able to use to quickly and easily identify EMails that match the criteria for the time window requested, I do not accept that the costs would be exceeded. A competent user with requisite access is able to execute eDiscovery to discover the in-scope EMails have requested within a matter of a couple of hours.

I am requesting an internal review of this decision for the reason(s) noted.

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

Yours faithfully,

Stephen Campbell

FOI Team, HM Revenue and Customs

Our ref: IR2021/20701

Dear Mr Campbell,

Freedom of Information Act 2000 Acknowledgement

Thank you for your communication of which has been passed to HMRC's
Freedom of Information Team.

We have allocated the above reference which you should quote if you need
to contact us.

The Team will arrange for a reply to be sent to you which will either
comply with HMRC's obligations under Freedom of Information Act or, if we
think it's an enquiry that we don't need to address under the terms of the
Act, let you know why. If it is the latter we will, if possible, pass it
on to a more appropriate part of the Department for answer.</ p>

As you will appreciate, the coronavirus pandemic has provided
unprecedented challenges for Government Departments including HMRC. Over
the coming weeks our priorities are to provide critical existing and new
Public Services for Government to support customers during this difficult
time. As a result, resources may be diverted away from usual compliance or
information rights work. HMRC aims to respond to all FOIA Requests within
20 working days. If for whatever reason this timescale cannot be complied
with HMRC will, where possible, write to you explaining the reason for the
delay and providing an estimated time for response.

Yours sincerely

HMRC Freedom of Information Act Team

FOI Team, HM Revenue and Customs

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Campbell,

We are writing in response to your request for information, received 6
September.

Yours sincerely,

HMRC Freedom of Information Team