EU citizens registration - internal communication

The request was refused by Electoral Commission.

Dear Electoral Commission,
Could you please provide me with all communication both internal and received from/sent to EROs in regards to the registration of EU citizens.

Time frame 01 March 2019 - 07 May 2019.

Yours faithfully,

Axel Antoni

FOI, Electoral Commission

Dear Axel Antoni,
 
Our Ref: FOI 095-19
 
Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act dated 08
May 2019, concerning:
 
Could you please provide me with all communication both internal and
received from/sent to EROs in regards to the registration of EU citizens.
 
Time frame 01 March 2019 - 07 May 2019.
 
The Commission aims to respond to requests for information promptly and
within the statutory timeframe of twenty working days.
 
You may expect to receive a reply sent from the Commission by 06 June
2019.
 
Yours sincerely
 
Daniel Howard
 
Daniel Howard
Access to Information Officer (FOI and DPA)
 
The Electoral Commission
[1][Electoral Commission request email]
[2]electoralcommission.org.uk
 
 
 
 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Electoral Commission request email]
2. https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/

FOI, Electoral Commission

Dear Axel Antoni,

 

Freedom of Information Request: FOI 095-19

 

Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 dated
08 May 2019, concerning:

 

1.    Could you please provide me with all communication both internal and
received from/sent to EROs in regards to the registration of EU citizens.

Time frame 01 March 2019 - 07 May 2019.

 

The Commission has considered your request against section 12 of the
Freedom of Information Act. Section 12 of the FOIA 2000 applies where the
cost of compliance exceeds the appropriate limit. The appropriate limit
for central government is £600. Cost is calculated at a rate of £25 per
hour of work, this means that requests for information that exceed 24
hours can be refused.

 

Your request for information relates to:

·         Correspondence between The Electoral Commission and Electoral
Registration Officers in relation to the registration of EU citizens.

·         Correspondence between Electoral Registration Officers and The
Electoral Commission in relation to the registration of EU citizens.

·         Internal correspondence in relation to registration of EU
citizens. 

 

In order to understand whether section 12 applies we conducted a search to
locate a) correspondence sent to Electoral Registration Officers on the
topic of your request, b) correspondence received by The Electoral
commission from Electoral Registration Officers on the topic of your
request, and lastly, c) Internal communications on the topic of your
request. We identified around 500 to 550 documents, some of which may be
relevant to your request. It took a total of 5 minutes per record to
review it and to check that it was in scope. Based on our working we
believe that it would take a minimum of 41 hours to identify and sort and
filter the information relevant to your request.

 

This does not account for time spent:

·         Identifying information across all of our systems

·         Issuing third party notices to relevant third parties to notify
them of the request and our duty to respond

 

As you can see, demonstrated above, the information that you have
requested is exempt on the basis that it will exceed the appropriate cost
limit. A public authority is not required to work up until section 12
applies.

 

In order for the Commission to consider your request for information
please can I ask that you narrow the scope of your entire request. In
order to do this you should:

·         Specify key areas of interest, such as the names of Local
Authorities that your request relates to.

·         Narrow the scope of the internal communications relevant to your
request

 

I cannot guarantee that a revised request will fall below the cost of
compliance.

 

You may also be aware the a public authority is able to accept a fee for
the additional cost in order to process the request. Please note that the
Commission does not accept payment in cases where section 12 is applied.

 

Your request for information will now be placed on hold until such time
the necessary clarification is received. In the event that no
clarification is received your request will be closed on the following
date, 04 July 2019

 

Kind regards,

Daniel Howard

 

Daniel Howard

Access to Information Officer (FOI and DPA)

 

The Electoral Commission

[1][Electoral Commission request email]

[2]electoralcommission.org.uk

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Electoral Commission request email]
2. https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/