For the third time: Personal vs BBC Twitter accounts
Dear British Broadcasting Corporation,
On 22nd June I submitted an FOI request (RFI20200824) asking how a member of the viewing and listening public can determine the difference between "personal" and "BBC" Twitter accounts used by BBC staff. BBC FOI invoked the "journalism, art and literature" derogation as a means to refuse an answer to my request.
On 28th July I submitted a further FOI request (RFI20201084) asking who I should contact at the BBC for some guidance on this matter. BBC FOI refused this request citing section 40(2) (personal information) as a means to withhold the information I requested.
Please provide a relevant staff position (for example, Social Media Policy Manager or similar), email address and postal address of the relevant member of BBC management who can assist me.
I affirm postal address: I may want to send a letter.
I affirm staff position: I want my letter to go to the correct person.
I affirm that I do NOT need the individual staff member's name.
Yours faithfully,
Mr A Willmore
Dear Mr A Willmore,
Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, as detailed in your email below. Your request was received on 26 August 2020. We will deal with your request as promptly as possible, and at the latest within 20 working days. If you have any queries about your request, please contact us at the address below.
The reference number for your request is RFI20201301.
Kind regards,
Information Rights
BBC Freedom of Information
BC2 A4, Broadcast Centre
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TP
www.bbc.co.uk/foi
Email: [BBC request email]
Dear A Willmore
Please find attached the response to your request for information,
reference RFI20201301.
Yours sincerely,
Information Rights
BBC Freedom of Information
BC2 A4, Broadcast Centre
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TP
Website: [1]www.bbc.co.uk/foi
Email: [2]mailto:[BBC request email]
[3]Description: Description: \\BBCFS2025\UserData$\myrien01\Documents\My
Pictures\BBC.png
References
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1. file:///tmp/www.bbc.co.uk/foi
2. mailto:[BBC request email]
Dear British Broadcasting Corporation,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of British Broadcasting Corporation's handling of my FOI request 'For the third time: Personal vs BBC Twitter accounts'.
You state: "Where a public authority has previously complied with a request for information, it is not obliged to comply with a subsequent identical or substantially similar request from that person.". That all comes down, in my opinion, to the definition of the word "comply". I like this one: act in accordance with a wish or command.
I consider that in both my previous requests (RFI20200824 and RFI20201084) and in this latest one BBC FOI failed to comply.
In the first, my request was dismissed by using the "journalism, art and literature" derogation, despite me asking explicitly for your guidance under Section 16 with this request.
My second request was dismissed as, apparently, the BBC Manager responsible for social media policy has to remain anonymous under Section 40(2). To be honest, I would wish to remain anonymous in his/her position. Again, no assistance was provided under Section 16.
My third request (this one, and the sole subject of this review), therefore, asked for a the job title of the person responsible for such matters and some contact details. I specifically asked that no personal details should be revealed. A response of "You should write to the Social Media Manager, BBC House, Anytown AA1 1ZZ" would have been entirely acceptable to me.
I tried desperately to avoid the numerous pitfalls that can be used to derail my request, but you managed to find another one to again cause refusal of my request for basic information.
Once again, there was no Section 16 assistance of any kind. I note from other FOI requests the text used in many replies, viz. "We are mindful of our duty under section 16 of the Act to provide reasonable advice and assistance to you". No advice or assistance of any kind was offered or given to me.
To me, my request is for perhaps the most basic information that can be, i.e. I want to contact somebody at the BBC: Who do I contact and how do I do that? I consider your refusal to provide that information, and without invoking Section 16 at any time, to be extremely unhelpful and certainly not in the spirit of the FOI legislation.
Please conduct your internal review forthwith and let me have your response by return. In your review, please also include BBC FOI's interpretation of Section 16 in relation to my latest request.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/f...
Yours faithfully,
Mr A Willmore
Dear Mr Willmore,
We have received your request for an internal review which was received on 8 September 2020. We shall deal with the review as promptly as possible and, aim to respond at the latest, within 20 working days. If you have any queries please contact us at the address below.
The reference number for your internal review is IR2020052.
Yours sincerely,
Information Rights, BBC Legal
BC2A4 | Broadcast Centre | 201 Wood Lane | London | W12 7TP
Dear FOI Enquiries,
I note that 20 working days have passed since I requested an internal review and I would be grateful for an indication of when the review will be completed.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Mr A Willmore
Dear British Broadcasting Corporation,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request a further internal review of British Broadcasting Corporation's handling of my FOI request 'For the third time: Personal vs BBC Twitter accounts'.
On 8th September I requested an internal review of my FOI request RFI20201301. This was acknowledged the next day as IR2020052 and included "aim to respond at the latest, within 20 working days".
27 workings days have now passed. I have received no communication on this topic, despite requests for status updates.
Please conduct an internal review in to the handling of internal review request IR2020052 as submitted on 8th September.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/f...
Yours faithfully,
Mr A Willmore
Dear Mr Willmore
We apologise for the delay in our response.
Please find attached the BBC's FOI internal review decision.
Yours sincerely
Information Rights, BBC Legal
BC2A4, Broadcast Centre
201 Wood Lane, London W12 7TP
Dear FOI Enquiries,
Many thanks for conducting the internal review and for highlighting the shortcomings of the BBC's FOI process for all three of my requests on this topic.
I am happy to confirm that you have supplied the information I originally requested three months ago.
Yours sincerely,
Mr A Willmore
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