Emails on the Draft Loan Charge review report from named officials

The request was successful.

Dear Her Majesty's Treasury,

From previous FOI requests (see your Ref: FOI2021/02804) we know that 3 HM Treasury officials - Lindsey Whyte, Suzy Kantor, and Beth Russell - had early sight of the final version of the Loan Charge Review ("the draft") prior to its publication .

They were able to read the report during a meeting on the 9th of December 2019, during which they were only supposed to suggest corrections to factual errors.

I would like you to disclose all emails to/from those three officials which reference the Draft, during the two weeks before the meeting, to 2 weeks after. (so, from the 25 November 2019 to the 23 December 2019).

The limited period of time should result in few emails. However should this exceed the FOI limit, please reduce the number of officials to 2 (or 1, if that is still above the limit) - in that case please keep the most senior official in.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Matt Smith

FOI Requests, HM Treasury

Our ref: FOI2021/13212

Dear Matt Smith,

Thank you for your request for information which we are considering under
the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

This is to confirm receipt of your request and to let you know that it is
receiving attention. If you have any enquiries regarding your request do
not hesitate to contact us.

Please note: HM Treasury has a dedicated email address for the public to
make Freedom of Information requests: [email address]

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ [1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

Correspondence and Information Rights | HM Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road,
London, SW1A 2HQ [2]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

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FOI Requests, HM Treasury

1 Attachment

Dear Matt Smith

Please find attached a response to your recent FOI request.

Kind regards

Information Rights Unit

| HM Treasury | Ground Orange | 1 Horse Guards Road, SW1A 2HQ |
[1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

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Dear FOI Requests,

I note you did not respond to my previous request as it would exceed the cost limit, so I would like to further restrict my query in the hope I can get some answers.

Please disclose all emails (and if applicable, any other messages sent via Microsoft teams, Slack, or any other collaboration tools) FROM / TO Suzy Kantor, during the period between the 25 November 2019 to the 23 December 2019, which contain ANY of the following keywords: “loan charge”, or “LC”, or “Amyas”, or “Morse”.

If even this much reduced request exceeds the appropriate limit, please give details, such as what is the number of matches with any of the keywords suggested above.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Matt Smith

FOI Requests, HM Treasury

Our ref: FOI2021/15327

Dear Matt Smith,

Thank you for your request for information which we are considering under
the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

This is to confirm receipt of your request and to let you know that it is
receiving attention. If you have any enquiries regarding your request do
not hesitate to contact us.

Please note: HM Treasury has a dedicated email address for the public to
make Freedom of Information requests: [email address]

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ [1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

Correspondence and Information Rights | HM Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road,
London, SW1A 2HQ [2]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

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FOI Requests, HM Treasury

1 Attachment

Dear Matt Smith

Please find attached a response to your recent FOI request.

Kind regards

Information Rights Unit

| HM Treasury | Ground Orange | 1 Horse Guards Road, SW1A 2HQ |
[1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

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Dear FOI Requests,

Thanks for your reply to my request.

I would like to narrow it down to the following:

Please provide all emails TO/FROM Suzy Kantor, during the period from 2nd December 2019 to 16th December 2019 (both inclusive) which contain the keyword "Amyas" OR "Loan Charge". If this still generates too many matches, please match only the keyword "Amyas".

Yours sincerely,

Matt Smith

FOI Requests, HM Treasury

Our ref: FOI2021/17138

Dear Matt Smith,

Thank you for your request for information which we are considering under
the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

This is to confirm receipt of your request and to let you know that it is
receiving attention. If you have any enquiries regarding your request do
not hesitate to contact us.

Please note: HM Treasury has a dedicated email address for the public to
make Freedom of Information requests: [email address]

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ [1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

Correspondence and Information Rights | HM Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road,
London, SW1A 2HQ [2]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

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FOI Requests, HM Treasury

1 Attachment

Dear Matt Smith,

Please find attached our response to your recent enquiry.

We are continuing to encourage all correspondents to contact us by
emailing [1][email address], either by sending an email
directly or attaching a letter to an email. This will ensure that we
receive, log and respond to your query more efficiently and avoid any
unnecessary delays.

The latest Government advice can be found on GOV.UK. Guidance is
constantly updated and reviewed, covering a wide range of topics.

Regards

HM Treasury

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Dear Her Majesty's Treasury,

Ref: FOI2021/17138

Thanks for your letter dated 1st September 2021.

I note you have rejected my amended request on the grounds that "it would still be particularly burdensome", but you haven't included any details that can help me further reduce my query.

Can you please provide:
1. A daily breakdown of the number of emails sent/received by Suzy Kantor during the period from 2nd December 2019 to 16th December 2019 (both inclusive) which contain a) the keyword "Amyas", b)
the keyword "Loan Charge" OR "LC", and C) both the keyword "Amyas" and "Loan Charge".

2. A list of DATE and SUBJECT of any emails to/from Suzy Kantor during the period from 2nd December 2019 to 16th December 2019 (both inclusive), which contain either the keyword "Amyas" or "Loan Charge".
To clarify:
a) for emails sent by Mrs Kantor, the list should only include Subject and Date;
b) for emails received by Mrs Kantor, the list should contain Subject, Date and also the name of the SENDER (unless it needs to be redacted under FOIA).

in both cases neither the full list of recipients, nor the body of the email are required. I hope this will greatly reduce the effort required to process this amended request.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Matt Smith

FOI Requests, HM Treasury

Our ref: FOI2021/22531

Dear Matt Smith,

Thank you for your request for information which we are considering under
the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

This is to confirm receipt of your request and to let you know that it is
receiving attention. If you have any enquiries regarding your request do
not hesitate to contact us.

Please note: HM Treasury has a dedicated email address for the public to
make Freedom of Information requests: [email address]

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ [1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

Correspondence and Information Rights | HM Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road,
London, SW1A 2HQ [2]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

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FOI Requests, HM Treasury

4 Attachments

Dear Matt Smith

Please find attached a response to your recent FOI request.

Kind regards

Information Rights Unit

| HM Treasury | Ground Orange | 1 Horse Guards Road, SW1A 2HQ |
[1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

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Dear FOI Requests,

In your response (your ref FOI2021 22531) you have provided me with a list of emails sent by Suzy Kantor which included the keywords I requested.

I would now like to request disclosure of some of those emails, together with the entire email thread they were part of (ie. not just the emails sent by Mrs Suzy Kantor) and their attachments.

The list below includes the email thread I would like to request. For reference, I have included the date when Mrs Kantor replied to those emails, but of course the date range should be extended to encompass the entire thread, which may have started before Mrs Kantor's email, and/or continued later.

DATE, SUBJECT
13-12-2019, Outline approach, - Loan Charge Security
12-12-2019, URGENT: draft note to SAM re report tone
12-12-2019, Loan Charge Independent Review Report
11-12-2019, Lindsey's request
11-12-2019, LC review
11-12-2019, Early sequencing
11-12-2019, [for comment by 2pm Thurs] Loan Charge Review
10-12-2019, Loan Charge Question
10-12-2019, Loan Charge advice
10-12-2019, LC handling with CX
10-12-2019, Concession Option costings
09-12-2019, Table for Recommendations
09-12-2019, Sitrep
09-12-2019, No 10
09-12-2019, Loan Charge reading room
09-12-2019, Loan Charge advice
09-12-2019, Loan Charge - one year delay
04-12-2019, Loan charge - issues to resolve
03-12-2019, Loan Charge headline numbers tracker
02-12-2019, LCR - draft report

Given the small amount of emails I am not anticipating this request to be too burdensome. However, should that be the case, please provide as many items as you can, starting from the top of the list and working your way down until the limit is reached.

Yours sincerely,

Matt Smith

FOI Requests, HM Treasury

Our ref: FOI2022/00510

Dear Matt Smith,

Thank you for your request for information which we are considering under
the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

This is to confirm receipt of your request and to let you know that it is
receiving attention. If you have any enquiries regarding your request do
not hesitate to contact us.

Please note: HM Treasury has a dedicated email address for the public to
make Freedom of Information requests: [email address]

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ [1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

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FOI Requests, HM Treasury

1 Attachment

Dear Matt Smith

Please find attached a response to your recent FOI request.

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ [1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

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Dear FOI Requests team,

Thanks for your reply dated 8 February (your ref FOI2022 00510).

I note you have stated "HM Treasury does NOT hold the information within the scope of your request", but I assume it's just a typo, as it directly contradicts the following, which states clearly that you have identified a large number of emails in the threads I have requested.

I also note you didn't include any useful information to substantiate your assessment that complying with my request would be too burdensome. For example, it would have been useful to receive the email count of each thread, so I could refocus my request.

However, I will try and reduce my request to just 14 email threads, as detailed below:

11-12-2019, Lindsey's request
11-12-2019, LC review
11-12-2019, Early sequencing
11-12-2019, [for comment by 2pm Thurs] Loan Charge Review 10-12-2019, Loan Charge Question
10-12-2019, Loan Charge advice
10-12-2019, LC handling with CX
10-12-2019, Concession Option costings
09-12-2019, Table for Recommendations
09-12-2019, Sitrep
09-12-2019, No 10
09-12-2019, Loan Charge reading room
09-12-2019, Loan Charge advice
09-12-2019, Loan Charge - one year delay

As per my previous request, I the list includes the date when Mrs Suzy Kantor replied to those emails, but of course the date range should be extended to encompass the entire thread, which may have started before Mrs Kantor's email, and/or continued later.

If you still deem this request to be too burdensome, please provide the total email count of each thread (and the number of attachments) so I can define the next steps.

Yours sincerely,

Matt Smith

FOI Requests, HM Treasury

Our ref: FOI2022/02925

Dear Matt Smith,

Thank you for your request for information which we are considering under
the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

This is to confirm receipt of your request and to let you know that it is
receiving attention. If you have any enquiries regarding your request do
not hesitate to contact us.

Please note: HM Treasury has a dedicated email address for the public to
make Freedom of Information requests: [email address]

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ [1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

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FOI Requests, HM Treasury

1 Attachment

Dear Matt Smith

Please find attached an interim response to your FOI Request

Yours sincerely

 

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ  
[1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

 

 

This email and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for the
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email communications may be monitored to ensure the secure and effective
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email has been swept for malware and viruses.

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FOI Requests - HMT, HM Treasury

1 Attachment

Dear Matt Smith

Please find attached an interim response to your FOI Request

Yours sincerely

 

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ  
[1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

 

 

 

This email and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for the
use of the individual(s) to whom they are addressed. If you are not the
intended recipient and have received this email in error, please notify
the sender and delete the email. This footnote also confirms that our
email communications may be monitored to ensure the secure and effective
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Dear FOI Requests - HMT,

Thanks for your interim response to my FOI request , in which you communicate yet another delay in responding to my request, which is now long overdue.

You wrote that you are "considering the information that we have identified in relation to your request under section 35 of the FOI Act, which relates to ongoing policy development".

I would like to respectfully point out that a) the emails I am requesting are 2.5 years old, and that b) they relate to a policy (the Loan Charge) which is not in development anymore, having been implemented in 2019.

I therefore hope you will be able to rule out section 35 very quickly and let me have my long overdue response as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Matt Smith

FOI Requests - HMT, HM Treasury

1 Attachment

Dear Matt Smith

Please find attached an interim response to your FOI Request

Yours sincerely

 

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ  
[1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

 

This email and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for the
use of the individual(s) to whom they are addressed. If you are not the
intended recipient and have received this email in error, please notify
the sender and delete the email. This footnote also confirms that our
email communications may be monitored to ensure the secure and effective
operation of our systems and for other lawful purposes, and that this
email has been swept for malware and viruses.

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Dear Her Majesty's Treasury,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Her Majesty's Treasury's handling of my FOI request 'Emails on the Draft Loan Charge review report from named officials'.

This is the third time I receive a letter from you announcing a delay in your response to my FOI request, this time to the 9th of June.

The ICO states that authorities must reply to FOI requests "promptly and within 20 working days"; and "section 10(3) only permits extensions for further consideration of the public interest": a total of 40 working days. Any extension beyond that, the ICO states clearly, is possible only in exceptional circumstances.

By the time I will receive your response, assuming it's not another postponement, 80 working days will have passed since my request, dated 7 February 2022.

Moreover, the reason you cite for the repeated postponements is Section 35(1)A of the FOIA, which relates to ongoing development of policy. This argument is extremely weak given the emails I am requesting are almost three years old, and relate to a policy which was both fully developed and implemented at the time those emails were sent.
It is extremely unlikely Section 35(1)A can apply to this request, and anyway the ICO states clearly that any postponement should only relate to the public interest test: "the additional time cannot be used to determine whether the exemptions themselves are engaged".

I am therefore requesting an urgent internal review on this matter, and the immediate release of all the material requested without further delays.

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,

Matt Smith

FOI Requests, HM Treasury

Dear Matt Smith,

Thank you for your email regarding your request for an internal review.

I can confirm that your review request was received on 14th May and is
receiving attention under our reference IR2022/09980.

There is no statutory deadline for responding to internal review requests.

However, in line with the Information Commissioner's guidelines and the
[1]2018 FOI Code of Practice, we aim to complete  internal reviews within
20 working days.

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ  
[2]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

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FOI Requests, HM Treasury

1 Attachment

Dear Matt Smith

Please find attached a response to your recent IR request.

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ [1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

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FOI Requests, HM Treasury

4 Attachments

Dear Matt Smith

Please find attached a response to your recent FOI request.

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ [1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

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FOI Requests - HMT, HM Treasury

4 Attachments

Dear Matt Smith

 

Please find attached documents forming  part II of III of the response to
your recent FOI request.

 

Unfortunately the file with attachments was too large to be sent
successfully yesterday and has now been divided into two additional
Emails.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ [1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

 

 

This email and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for the
use of the individual(s) to whom they are addressed. If you are not the
intended recipient and have received this email in error, please notify
the sender and delete the email. This footnote also confirms that our
email communications may be monitored to ensure the secure and effective
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FOI Requests - HMT, HM Treasury

2 Attachments

 

Dear Matt Smith

 

Please find attached documents forming  part III of III of the response to
your recent FOI request.

 

Unfortunately the file with attachments was too large to be sent
successfully yesterday and has now been divided into two additional
Emails.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Information Rights Unit | Correspondence and Information Rights | HM
Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ [1]www.gov.uk/hm-treasury

 

 

This email and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for the
use of the individual(s) to whom they are addressed. If you are not the
intended recipient and have received this email in error, please notify
the sender and delete the email. This footnote also confirms that our
email communications may be monitored to ensure the secure and effective
operation of our systems and for other lawful purposes, and that this
email has been swept for malware and viruses.

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