Navy Command FOI Section
Navy Command Headquarters
MP 1-4, Leach Building
Whale Island
PORTSMOUTH
PO2 8BY
FOI2020/08908
E-mail:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx
Dr E Briant
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
24 September 2020
Dear Dr Briant,
Release of Information
Further to our letter dated 1 September 2020, I am now in a position to respond to your
request for the following information:
‘Please could I see all documents and correspondence relating to contracted
strategic communications companies in November-December 2013 strategic
communication efforts during Op Patwin or the intervention during Typhoon Haiyan,
including proposals, final reports, correspondence, dates they were engaged and
how much they were paid.’
Your enquiry has been considered to be a request for information in accordance with
the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
As explained in our interim response, a search was completed within the Ministry of
Defence and it was confirmed that the Department held some information in scope of
your request. In that correspondence we also informed you that we had adopted
remote working due to the COVID-19 pandemic which resulted in a delay in
accessing hard copy material. While we were able to identify that we may hold
information in scope of your request and that information may be exempt under
Section 26 (Defence) of the FOI Act, it is only now on accessing the information that
we have established that this material is not, in fact, in scope of your request.
In summary, after additional searches across the Department, we can confirm no
information is held in scope of your request.
If you have any queries regarding the content of this letter, please contact this office in the
first instance.
If you wish to complain about the handling of your request, or the content of this response,
you can request an independent internal review by contacting the Information Rights
Compliance team, Ground Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail
CIO-
xxxxxx@xxx.xx). Please note that any request for an internal review should be made
within 40 working days of the date of this response.
If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may raise your complaint directly
to the Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of
Information Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not normally investigate
your case until the MOD internal review process has been completed. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Further details of the role and powers of the
Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's website at
https://ico.org.uk/. Yours sincerely
Navy Command Secretariat - FOI Section