Litigation

The request was refused by Home Office.

Dear Home Office,

All government departments are expected to comply with the Dispute Resolution Commitment published by the Ministry of Justice.

The Commitment requires government departments and agencies to be proactive in the management of disputes, and to use effective, proportionate and appropriate forms of dispute resolution in order to avoid expensive legal costs.

Could the Home Office department of Immigration and Visa directorate, please provide me with the following information under the Freedom of Information Act;

1. After a legal action has been brought against the Home Office, what procedures are in place to instigate and follow the Dispute Resolution Commitment?

2. Which department within the Home Office considers whether to instigate and follow the Dispute Resolution Commitment against current legal actions brought against the Home Office?

3. Could you provide me with the number of times the Dispute Resolution Commitment has been used in legal cases brought against the Home Office within the last 30 days?

4.Could you provide me with the number of legal actions brought against the Home Office in the last 30 days?

Yours faithfully,
Carol-Ann Purkis

FOI Requests, Home Office

Thank you for contacting the Home Office FOI Requests mailbox.

The Freedom of Information (FoI) Act 2000 provides public access to
recorded information held by the department.
If you have submitted a valid FoI request, we will acknowledge your
request within 24 hours, and aim to provide the information requested
within 20 working days as specified under the FoI Act.

Please note we are unable to respond to non-FOI immigration enquiries. If
you have a general immigration enquiry, or require an update on a specific
case, contact information can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati... and
https://www.gov.uk/visas-immigration

 

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

[Name Removed] (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

D.Speers posted this NOT Jt Oakley as displayed (there appears to be a technical glitch with this account, which I have made WDTK aware of(a couple of times!) To date I have heard nothing more.

Good questions CA and I look forward to the response.

CA Purkis left an annotation ()

I will NOT be requesting a review on this request, as this merely gives them more time. I will wait to see when they answer it and if they answer it, as I need all the evidence I can gather for my upcoming hearing. I want the Judge to see how they ignore and delay FOI requests. The Home Office make no attempt at resolution whatsoever. Its interesting that they have been unable to answer this in their allotted legal time.

[Name Removed] (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

Here's a definition to the thing that the govenment states that it's departments should be demonstrating to the public in communications...

candour

Definition: (noun) The quality of being honest and straightforward in attitude and speech.

the state or quality of being frank, open, and sincere in speech or expression; candidness:

Synonyms: forthrightness, frankness, directness

Example: The candour of the speech impressed the audience.
( but not in this case ..obviously) .

2.
freedom from bias; fairness; impartiality: to consider an issue with candour.

::::

We can all see from the above response how much the government is applying its own directives.

::::

I'd have included one on transparency as well - but it might be too much for them to take in on one request.

Dear Home Office,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Home Office's handling of my FOI request 'Litigation'.

Please could you tell me why you have not answered my request and when you intend to do so?

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

Yours faithfully,

CA Purkis

FOI Requests, Home Office

Thank you for contacting the Home Office FOI Requests mailbox.

The Freedom of Information (FoI) Act 2000 provides public access to
recorded information held by the department.
If you have submitted a valid FoI request, we will acknowledge your
request within 24 hours, and aim to provide the information requested
within 20 working days as specified under the FoI Act.

Please note we are unable to respond to non-FOI immigration enquiries. If
you have a general immigration enquiry, or require an update on a specific
case, contact information can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati... and
https://www.gov.uk/visas-immigration

 

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

FOI Responses, Home Office

1 Attachment

Hello CA Purkis,

 

Please see the attached response to your email detailed below:

 

Dear Home Office,

 

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

 

I am writing to request an internal review of Home Office's handling of my
FOI request 'Litigation'.

 

Please could you tell me why you have not answered my request and when you
intend to do so?

 

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

 

Yours faithfully,

 

CA Purkis

 

Regards

 

S. Snowsell

Corporate Services

Home Office

 

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
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References

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1. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/l...

CA Purkis left an annotation ()

In other words - you make no attempt whatsoever to resolve any issues brought before you. I have already been informed that this is your policy. I am writing to the ICO to challenge this response.

[Name Removed] (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

If the ICO turn it down, tribunals are free.

CA Purkis left an annotation ()

Yes - I think the Tribunals might be more helpful. Isn't it sad that the Home Office make you vexatious, because you are trying to find out how they conduct there resolution policy?

S. Pinter left an annotation ()

How do you take to tribunal

J A Giggins left an annotation ()

You have to have a decision notice from the Information Commissioner before you can make an appeal to the First Tier Tribunal, and although there is no charge for the service, my experience is that it can be very time consuming, especially when appealing a 'vexatious' refusal.

This is the "official" guidance taken from the ICO website: http://ico.org.uk/for_organisations/free...

"What does it cost to appeal against the ICO’s decision?
There is no fee for appealing to the Tribunal and you do not need to be represented by a barrister or solicitor, although it is advisable to have professional legal representation. Bear in mind that a Tribunal appeal may be time consuming and requires careful preparation.

Costs are not normally awarded in the Tribunal. The Tribunal may award costs where a party has acted unreasonably in bringing the case or in the way they conducted themselves, although this is rare.

More details of the appeal process are on the Tribunal’s website under Information Rights: how to appeal."

This "unofficial" link to FOIwiki ( which I think was put together by a wdtk volunteer?) gives you a layman's idea of proceedings: http://foiwiki.com/foiwiki/index.php/How.... However I think the information may be out of date.

J A Giggins left an annotation ()

FOIwiki link again, as it didn't work for me when I just tested it!

http://foiwiki.com/foiwiki/index.php?tit...

J A Giggins left an annotation ()

No - still doesn't work! Apologies - I don't know how to correct the link.

You can get to the information by typing "appeal" in the search box on the page that the link takes you to and following the hyperlinks from there.

[Name Removed] (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

You have to refer the FoI request to the ICO.... There should be guidance in how to do it at the bottom of each review request...thus:

The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel No: 01625 545700
Fax No: 01625 545510

You need to fill out a form

http://ico.org.uk/concerns/getting/repor...

You can do this by email.

If your computer system cannot help you fill in the form, you can just copy it and email it.

As it is acceptable to do so ( at least in my case).

Long term , it can be easier if you are thinking of sending more than one request.

:::::

.....But the ICO almost always backs the PHSO.

It issues a Decision Notice(DN) like these. (Search facility on specific cases)

http://search.ico.gov.uk/ico/search/deci...

At the end of a DN these is this:

Either party has the right to appeal against this decision notice to the First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights). Information about the appeals process may be obtained from:
First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights) GRC & GRP Tribunals,
PO Box 9300,
LEICESTER,
LE1 8DJ
Tel: 0300 1234504 Fax: 0116 249 4253
Email: GRC@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk
Website: www.justice.gov.uk/tribunals/general-reg...

And this is where you send your case. It can be done by email and there is nothing to pay unless the Tribunal decides that you are doing it basically ...'for a laugh'.

You have to send a copy of all documents that you wish to present to the court to the ICO lawyer handling your case and the grc clerk .

It can be done by email.

And don't forget to put the grc case number in each piece of information sent in.. Because you can add to the first lot of information that you out as evidence on the form.

You can also ask that the Organisation to which you made your request becomes a Joint Party.

Because all cases are vs the ICO , and not the organisation, at this point.

If the judge accepts a joint Party request this means that you can question a representative of the organisation ( be warned - usually a lawyer) at the hearing. You can have your own lawyer if you wish. Although the tribunal members will accept that you may not have the legal expertise to argue your case as a lawyer would - and will make allowances for this, by guiding you.

I was told by The Tribunal members that some complicated cases can go on for a day, or even more - as they may throw up more questions, as organisations are asked to explain the various statements that they have made.

More paperwork may be requested from the organisation by the Tribunal members, if the organisation cannot substantiate the information that it gave to the ICO, to make its Decision.

The Tribunal is made up of three people. One with legal knowledge.. In my case it was a QC.
And two members of the public.

You can also chose the geographical area in which the Tribunal is held..so that you do not have to travel far.
The one I attended was 25 miles away.

Good luck!

Wayne Pearsall left an annotation ()

Link posted above:

http://foiwiki.com/foiwiki/index.php/How...

WDTK needs to fix the brackets problem. Maybe implement BB Code to highlight links with brackets [link]....[/link]

J A Giggins left an annotation ()

Thanks Wayne.

From the FOIWiki site there is a link to an undated "official" guidance document.

http://www.informationtribunal.gov.uk/Do...

If anybody is thinking of taking a case to Tribunal I would advise checking whether this is the current version. There is nothing in here about having to submit documents in hard copy x4 for example, which is what I was directed to do.

S. Pinter left an annotation ()

Hard copy x4? Wow. That's really going to rocket the cost of postage.

[Name Removed] (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

They only asked me to send 1 copy to the grc - and 1 copy to the ICO investigator - by email.

And the ICO kindly supplied the entire case files, in hard copy, so that I could check it.

So the rules seem to be different in different cases. Although I can't explain why.

D. Speers left an annotation ()

Seems "being psychic" is required!

Wayne Pearsall left an annotation ()

Sorry Jan - JRC?

J A Giggins left an annotation ()

I've found another document that might be useful to anyone appealing to the FTT

https://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/tri...

What I can't understand is why these guidance notes aren't sent out automatically to litigants in person as it would save an awful lot of queries.