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Information Rights Team
Post Office Limited
Ground Floor
Finsbury Dials
20 Finsbury Street
London EC2Y 9AQ
033 3665 3951
Your reference:
Our reference: FOI2021/01010
Ms Eleanor Shaikh
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
9 December 2021
Dear
Ms Shaikh,
Freedom of Information Request – FOI2021/01010
I am writing in response to your recent request received by Post Office Limited (“
Post
Office”) for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“
FOIA”), as set
out below:
"According to the July 1999 document ‘Accounting, Funding and Tax Implications of
the 24 May 1999 Horizon Agreement’ archived at the Postal Museum, a letter was sent
from DTI Secretary of State, Stephen Byers, to the Post Office Chair on 23 May 1999
with details of funding arrangements for the Horizon project.
I would be most grateful if you would disclose this letter."
Post Office has carried out reasonable and proportionate searches for the letter
referred to in your request. However, POL has been unable to locate the requested
letter. In line with the Section 45 FOIA Code of Practice (see for example paragraph
1.12) and other ICO guidance
1, POL has concluded that on the balance of
probabilities, the requested information is not held.
Post Office notes that the letter responsive to your request dates from over twenty
years ago. Post Office also notes that communications between Post Office and the
Department for Trade and Industry ("
DTI") might be held by the DTI's successor
body, the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy ("
BEIS"), albeit
POL has not made any enquiries of BEIS in this regard and makes no assurances that
BEIS holds any such communications. If you would still like to obtain a copy of any
letter, then you may wish to consider submitting a FOIA request in similar terms to
BEIS. You may also wish to make enquiries of the National Archives, but again, Post
Office makes no assurances that the material is held by the National Archives.
If you have any queries about this response, please contact me. Do remember to
quote the reference number above in any future communications.
I hope the information I have provided on this occasion is useful, however if you are
dissatisfied with the handling of this response, you do have a right to request an
internal review. You can do this by writing to the address above or via email -
xxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx stating your reasons for your internal review
request.
1 See e
g https://ico.org.uk/media/1169/determining_whether_information_is_held_foi_eir.pdf
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If, having requested an internal review by Post Office, you are still not satisfied with
our response you also have a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
https://ico.org.uk
Yours sincerely,
David Sinclair
Information Rights Team
xxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx
http://corporate.postoffice.co.uk/secure-corporate/about-us/access-to-information/
@postofficenews
Post Office Limited is committed to protecting your privacy, information about
how we do this can be found on our website at www.postoffice.co.uk/privacy
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