Headgear

A. Clerk made this Freedom of Information request to Department for Work and Pensions This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

Department for Work and Pensions did not have the information requested.

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

I am constantly told to remove my cycling balaclava when attending my local job Centre. If I refuse to remove the balaclava I am prevented from signing on and on more than one occasion I have been forcefully ejected from the premises.
When I pointed out people wearing jihabs etc the response of the jc staff was "Don't even go there"

Please provide me with the relevant laws that gives you the right to discriminate against me for wearing headgear but not people who's faith dictates that they wear Headgear at all times.

Yours faithfully,

A. Clerk

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Operations FOI Requests, Department for Work and Pensions

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Dear A Clerk
 
Please find attached our response to your recent Freedom of Information
request.
 
 
Yours sincerely
 
DWP Central Freedom of Information Team
 
 
 
 

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Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions's handling of my FOI request 'Headgear'.

You completely side stepped my request.

Please provide me with the relevant laws that gives you the right to discriminate against me for wearing headgear but not people who's faith dictates that they wear headgear at all times.

You responded...
"It is reasonable to request that headgear such as hats, hoodies or crash
helmets be removed by claimants whilst on site where staff reasonably feel
that this negates their ability to conduct the business for which the customer is
attending. "

This is absolute proof that you are discriminating against people wearing the above head gear but not against people who use complete head coverings for religious reasons.

In what way would a hat etc negate the staffs ability to conduct the business for which the customer is attending and not someone who wears complete headgear because of their faith?

I am now in the process of claiming damages for your discriminatory behavior towards myself. You have victimized me and caused me alarm and distress on more than one occasion.

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

Yours faithfully,

A. Clerk

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

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expect a response within 20 working days.
 
Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
please contact us.
 
For further information on the Freedom of Information Act within DWP
please click on the link below.
 
[1]http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...
 

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Operations FOI Requests, Department for Work and Pensions

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Dear A Clerk
 
Please find attached our response to your recent Freedom of Information
request.
 
 
Yours sincerely
 
DWP Central Freedom of Information Team
 
 
 
 

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Dear Operations FOI Requests,

I requested the following... "Please provide me with the relevant laws that gives you the right to discriminate against me for wearing headgear but not people who's faith dictates that they wear headgear at all times."

You totally ignored my request... It this because such legislation doesn't exist?

As you chose to ignore my foi request you leave me no alternative but to pass this file to the ICO and to my own legal team along with the press offices of national newspapers.

Your department is an absolute disgrace.

Yours sincerely,

A. Clerk

Operations FOI Requests, Department for Work and Pensions

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Operations FOI Requests, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

 
Please find attached our response to your recent Freedom of Information
request.
 
Yours sincerely
 
DWP Central Freedom of Information Team
 
 
 
 

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Dear Operations FOI Requests,

Please provide me with copies of legislation, directives, acts, statutes, laws, instructions, training documents etc made available to dwp staff to enable them to make undiscriminatory decisions regarding the removal of headgear etc.

This is your final chance to provide me with the documentation I requested ... Next it will be the Ico and the press.

Yours sincerely,

A. Clerk

Operations FOI Requests, Department for Work and Pensions

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By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct. 
 
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John Slater left an annotation ()

The DWP doesn't change it's mind when it has upheld a decision this many times. You are wasting your time waiting for the DWP to respond again. The next step is to complain to the ICO.

A. Clerk (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

I'll give the this final opportunity then if there's no response I'll contact the ico.

Operations FOI Requests, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

 
 
 
Please find attached our response to your recent Freedom of Information
request.
 
Yours sincerely
 
DWP Central Freedom of Information Team
 
 
 
 
 

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Dear Operations FOI Requests,

I'm absolutely appalled by your behavior.
Prior to me sending my complete fie to the ICO and the National newspapers would you please provide me with a copy of dwp guidelines in relation to my original request.

Yours sincerely,

A. Clerk

Operations FOI Requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.
 
By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct. 
 
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For further information on making Freedom of Information requests please click on the link below.

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Operations FOI Requests, Department for Work and Pensions

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A Clerk

 

Please find attached our reply to your recent Freedom of Information
internal review request.

 

Thank you

 

DWP Freedom of Information Team

 

 

 

 

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Dear Operations FOI Requests,

I shall now reveal your discrimination to the ICO and the Press.

Yours sincerely,

A. Clerk

Operations FOI Requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.
 
By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct. 
 
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Becky Bbear left an annotation ()

A Clerk/Interested readers:

As the Authority have already advised, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires only the disclosure of recorded information held by an Authority - it does not require new information to be gathered nor does it require an Authority to simply respond to general questions.

In the case of this request, phrased as a 'closed' question, the information requested initially does not exist and the Authority responded accordingly.

For reference, a 'closed' question is one where the answer is assumed as part of the question - for example 'when did you stop beating your wife', which assumes that domestic violence against a woman already occurred.

In the context of the question, the question can only really be answered in reverse - 'what legislation protects the right of an individual to wear religious dress in public places'.

The answer to that question is Article 9 of the Human Rights Act 1998 - openly and freely available to read on the www.legislation.gov.uk website.

The initial request subsequently 'evolved' to request a copy of the DWP Policies on the wearing of religious dress on DWP premises - which is a valid FOI request in its own right and as such, subject to the Authority's Publications Scheme, should be responded to with a link to where those Policies are available on its website or a copy of the Policies if not part of that Publication Scheme.

Where an individual believes their Human Rights under Article 9 of the 1998 Act to have been breached, their recourse is via the Courts as a Civil Prosecution brought at their own expense. If that prosecution succeeds, costs can be claimed against the respondent.

In the context of the question as originally posed and responded to by the Authority, Hoods/Helmets/Balaclavas/ Masks/etc prevent or limit the identification of an individual for the purposes of crime prevention or the conduct of 'personal' business such as bank transactions/benefit claims - none of those items of headwear being 'religious' in nature.

Common sense and non-discriminatory under the Human Rights Act.

Becky

Doug Paulley left an annotation ()

I have removed a number of annotations as they are not in compliance with our policy on annotations, and prevented new ones from being posted on this request.

The policy at https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/requ... states:
"Annotations on WhatDoTheyKnow are to help people get the information they want, or to give them pointers to places they can go to help them act on it. We reserve the right to remove anything else. "

--
Doug - volunteer, WhatDoTheyKnow.com