Erskine May

The request was refused by House of Commons.

Dear House of Commons,

Please provide me with an electronic copy of the full text of "Erskine May Parliamentary Practice 23rd Edition".

Yours faithfully,
Steve Elibank

FOICOMMONS, House of Commons

Dear Mr Elibank,

Thank you for your request for information which is copied below.

When Parliament has been dissolved there is no ‘House of Commons’ for
the purposes of Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Freedom of Information Act
2000, and there is therefore no ‘public authority’ to which the 20 day
deadline under section 10 of the 2000 Act is capable of applying. The time
limits do not, therefore, apply during the period of Dissolution.

The effect of the 2000 Act, including its time limits, resumes when the
new House of Commons first meets.

As your request was received during the dissolution period, the time limit
will commence on 18 May, being the day the new Parliament first meets. We
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20 working days i.e. on or before 16 June 2010.

If you have any queries about your request, please use the request number
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Yours sincerely

Louise Randall
Freedom of Information Assistant

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FOICOMMONS, House of Commons

Dear Mr Elibank,

Thank you for your request for information which is copied below. The information you requested is held by the House of Commons.

Nevertheless, the 23rd edition of Erskine May’s Parliamentary Practice is not a parliamentary publication. It is published by, and available from, Butterworths (part of LexisNexis) see http://www.lexisnexis.co.uk/store/uk/cat...

As the information you request is reasonably accessible to you otherwise than under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, for example via your local library or by purchase (ISBN 9780406970947 Price £244.00), your FOI request is refused. In refusing your request the House is applying the exemption set out in section 21 (1) and (2)(a) of the FOI Act. This exemption applies even though the information may be accessible only on payment. This is an absolute exemption and the public interest test does not apply.

You may, if dissatisfied with the treatment of your request, ask the House of Commons to conduct an internal review of this decision. Requests for internal review should be addressed to: Freedom of Information Officer, Department of Resources, House of Commons London SW1 OAA or [House of Commons request email] . Please ensure that you specify the nature of your complaint and any arguments or points that you wish to make.

If you remain dissatisfied, you may appeal to the Information Commissioner at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely

Bob Castle
Head of Information Rights and Information Security

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Richard Taylor left an annotation ()

The text of the 24th edition has been released by hackers:

http://www.rtaylor.co.uk/erskine-might.h...