Due to an obvious obfuscation trick, the final reply from Ofcom to this matter cannot be viewed as HTML and thus not indexed by search engines. I have added the full text of the reply below for completeness - and to ensure it IS indexed. . .

The implication of the reply is that Ofcom, the organisation charged under law to manage the spectrum, does not have a policy or a procedure for dealing with interference to any spectrum stakeholder. If this is indeed the case then this is a desperately serious matter requiring urgent action. I recommend anyone unhappy with this state of affairs contact their MP.

Reply:

24 October 2013

Nigel Coleman
request-173907-a8ab96a7@whatdotheyknow.com
Julia Snape
Information requests
Secretariat

information.requests@ofcom.org.uk
Internal review reference: 1-244171530
Original request reference: 1-241340892

Dear Mr Coleman
Freedom of Information: Right to know request
Thank you for your request for an internal review of our decision of 18 September 2013 in which we said we did not hold the information you requested regarding procedures for assessment of complaints of interference to amateur radio stations. We received your request for an internal review on 30 September 2013.
Your original request was as follows:
Please provide the following:

• Any documentation relating to Ofcom policy for assessment of complaints of interference to amateur radio stations, not pre-dating 2006.

• Documentation relating to, including, but not limited to: the current procedure (for field staff) for the “Initial assessment of complaints of interference to amateur radio stations and short wave enthusiasts”. Should this procedure now identify by a different title then please provide the new title and current procedure for field staff to deal with the assessment of interference to amateur radio stations. Please include all relevant tables and data.

• If no formally named procedure currently exists, please detail the accepted method by which field engineers determine the magnitude of interference to amateur radio stations.

I have assessed your original request for information received on 20 August 2013 and the response that my colleague Eleanor Berg sent to you on 18 September 2013. I note you have requested an internal review of our decision that a formal procedure for assessing interference at an amateur radio station is not held. I note also that you have an Ofcom document entitled ‘Initial assessment of complaints of interference to amateur radio stations and short wave enthusiasts’, now published on your web blog, referencing Ofcom not providing you with that document or any other document related to procedures.
I have looked closely at the information you requested on 20 August 2013 and whether Ofcom correctly applied a ‘not held’ response to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the Act’).

Following my review, I have concluded that Ofcom correctly applied a ‘not held’ response to points 1 and 2 of your request and in regard to point 3, in the absence of any formally named procedures, correctly explained the accepted method by which field engineers determine the magnitude of interference to amateur radio stations.

Turning to the document you have in hand, entitled ‘Initial assessment of complaints of interference to amateur radio stations and short wave enthusiasts’, I can confirm it refers (as it says in the second paragraph of the document) to an historic trial methodology that field engineers employed for six months to quantify the levels of interference being reported by amateurs. The paper was written by an Ofcom expert in the field of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and interference and distributed at an RSGB meeting in April 2009. The trial commenced in October 2009, lapsed at the end of the six month period, and was not replaced under either the same or a different title. As a trial methodology, it did not meet the description of a “policy” under the first part of your request, nor is there a “current procedure” within the terms of the second part of your request.

I can confirm there is no formally named procedure which would bind an individual field engineer of the type we understand you to be requesting. Furthermore, we do not differentiate between how we approach investigating reports of interference made by various stakeholders other than prioritising some investigations taking into consideration the victim (e.g. safety of life services). Our approach is to treat each case on its individual merits talking into account all of the available evidence.
Yours sincerely

Julia Snape

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF

If you have any queries or would like to discuss this informally then please contact Information Requests (email: information.requests@ofcom.org.uk). Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.