Private company relationship with ICO

[Name Removed] made this Freedom of Information request to Information Commissioner's Office This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was partially successful.

Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,

I thought I would make it clear as to what I am referring as you seem to be seeking clarification of my request.

The ICO has told me, in its reply to an FoI request, about the relationship of Christine Gifford of P-Pact, a private company, yet not provided and documents on which this answer is based.

Here is the sentence in your reply to which I am referring:

'She has also had some contact with our Office in connection with Information Governance issues of interest in various areas including the areas of Health and Local Government. Staff members have on occasions attended speaking engagements at events she has hosted for her members and provided advice to Ms Gifford when requested. The intelligence that stakeholders provide allows us to focus our advice and guidance upon issues which are important to the Information Governance practitioners'.

I am asking with whom has she been in contact at these 'hosted' events etc - did P-pact pay for their attendance for instance and who has been 'providing advice' to Ms Gifford. Was it free? Or did the company pay in any way for their attendance for instance? Is there any financial relationship?

Clearly, with such an important relationship, documentation must exist.

So why has it been withheld?

Or are relationships, where governmental departments 'advise' private companies, ( spending public money as they do) to remain secret, with documents withheld ?

If so, kindly inform me of that fact.

::::

You are free to assume anything you wish about previous cases and their links to my request.
I have not stated any.

But I would point out that as the ICO has previously refused to tell me who has made comments about me on a public health board record, what these comments are about - or why they were made - obviously I do not know whether Christine Gifford was involved at all.

Or when I was informed that I could read the documents on record in which I was named - then suddenly told that the judgement had been overruled, I cannot know how the decision was reached, simply because every word in those documents was judged to be unredactable - even including the name of the originator. There was also no mention of the public interest clause in the DPA in the second judgement, or if it was considered and therefore I cannot know whether or not this was considered, or not, in the overturning the initial judgement.

::::

So please would you please confine yourself to answering the request by providing the required documentation.

[Name Removed]

On 12 Aug 2013, at 15:22, [email address] wrote:

PROTECT

12th August 2013

Case Reference Number IRQ0507567

Dear [Name Removed]

Further to your e-mails of 9 August 2013, it would appear there has been some confusion over my acknowledgement to you of 2 August 2013.

I explained that we’d received a request for information from you dated 30 July 2013, which would be dealt with as a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and that we’d provide you with a response by 29 August 2013.

The request I was referring to was your e-mail to my colleague, Iman Elmehdawy, in which you asked us to provide you with copies of all documents, notes and all records held by the ICO relating to the involvement of the ICO with Christine Gifford. As you may recall this request followed on from your earlier correspondence with Mrs Elmehdawy in which she’d responded to a number of queries you’d previously raised about Ms Gifford.

I hope this has helped to clarify the purpose of my acknowledgement of 2 August.

In the meantime, in your latest e-mails of 9 August you have raised a number of points about, we believe, previous complaints you have submitted to the ICO under both the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000. However, we are unsure which specific complaint(s) you are referring to, and given that all of these complaints were concluded some time ago what action (if any) you are asking us now to take.

Therefore, if you have any comments or enquires about our handling of your previous complaints to the ICO it would be helpful if you could quote the relevant reference number, and clarify the issues you’d like us to consider.

Yours sincerely

Jolyon Stone
Lead Information Governance Officer

____________________________________________________________________

The ICO’s mission is to uphold information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals.

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__________________________________________________________________

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Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk

Yours faithfully,

[Name Removed]

Information Commissioner's Office

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16th August 2013

 

Case Reference Number IRQ0507567

 

Dear [Name Removed]

Please note that we have responded to your recent correspondence at your
personal e-mail address, under our reference IRQ0507567.
 
Yours sincerely
 
Antonia Swann      Lead Information Governance Officer
 
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF.
T. 01625 545894  F. 01625 524510  [1]www.ico.org.uk
 

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

The ICO refused my request to read the files held on me by Powys Health Board, whose advisor was Christine Gifford

I wondered why, since, to me, there was obvious public interest in an publically admitted NHS negligence case, with a complaint upheld by the Ombudsman.

Now it transpires that the company involved had a close, working relationship with the ICO.

Whether or not this influenced the ICO's decision in withholding the files...who knows?

::::::::::

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29th August 2013

Case Reference Number IRQ0507567

Dear Mrs Treharne Oakley

Further to our acknowledgement dated 2 August 2013 we are now in a position to respond to your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

On 30 July 2013 you requested the following information:

“There must be some records held on Ms Gifford's involvement with the ICO for you to have been able to give me this email of explanation.
So since you are able to specify that there were meetings held between ICO employees and Ms Gifford, please could you send all documents on file regarding these occasions together with anything else that you might hold.
And the names of ICO employees involved in anyway with Ms Gifford.”

You clarified your request on 13 August 2013 as follows:

“I am asking with whom has she been in contact at these 'hosted' events etc - did P-pact pay for their attendance for instance and who has been 'providing advice' to Ms Gifford. Was it free? Or did the company pay in any way for their attendance for instance? Is there any financial relationship?”

Response to request

In response to the first part of your request we have searched our records for information held on meetings between the ICO and Mrs Gifford/ Public Partners. We have also searched our records for information on events hosted by Mrs Gifford and attended by ICO staff. We confirm that no information is held in relation to the aforementioned meetings and/or events.

As advice and assistance we have attached an extract from an internal meeting note dated 30 July 2008 which refers to a workshop attended by the ICO and Mrs Gifford. The abbreviations and first names on the note refer to the following staff members:
SM- Sue Markey
DM-Dawn Monaghan
GT- Gerrard Tracy
Sarah- Sarah O’Cathain
Catherine- Catherine Vint (a former staff member)

As explained in our response to your previous request, Mrs Gifford acted as an advisory panel member in connection with the ICO’s Publication Scheme Development and Maintenance Initiative back in 2007. We have attached a copy of a generic invitation letter sent to panel members which we hope will provide clarification of the contribution expected from advisory panel members. We have also attached an extract of the document covering the generic letter which mentions Mrs Gifford.

In relation to the second part of your request, we have searched our records and can confirm that no fees or expenses were paid by Mrs Gifford or Public Partners to ICO staff. It is worth clarifying that the ICO does not charge fees for carrying out speaking engagements or attending events on information rights issues, nor do we charge for providing advice to stakeholders or members of the public in relation to the legislation we enforce.

We have also searched our records for fees paid to Mrs Gifford or Public Partners and can confirm that no information is held in relation to this issue. While we have not paid fees to Mrs Gifford, we did pay Mrs Gifford/Public Partners expenses in relation to the attendance of Publication Scheme Initiative meetings back in 2007. A copy of the expenses paid is attached.

We have redacted personal data from the attached documents in reliance on section 40 (2) of the FOI by virtue of section 40 (3) (a) (i). This exemption enables a public authority to redact personal data relating to individuals other than the requester where the disclosure would breach a Data Protection Principle.
To disclose this personal information would breach principle one of the Data Protection Act 1998 which states that personal data should be processed fairly and lawfully.

Finally, you have asked for the names of ICO employees who were involved in anyway with Mrs Gifford. As explained in our previous response, Mrs Gifford is a stakeholder and has been involved with the ICO on a number of occasions. While we do not hold a list of employees who met or provided advice to Mrs Gifford, you will see from the attached the names of employees involved with Mrs Gifford in relation to the meetings connected to the Publication Schemes Advisory Panel and workshops. In addition, The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Graham Smith has indicated that he has in the past attended meetings and events also attended by Mrs Gifford/ Public Partners but no relevant information is held. Mrs Dawn Monaghan has also indicated that she provided advice to Mrs Gifford on issues related to information governance however, no recorded information is held about this.

I hope you find the provided information of assistance

If you are dissatisfied with the response you have received and wish to request a review of our decision or make a complaint about how your request has been handled you should write to the Information Governance Department at the address below or e-mail informationgovernance@ico.gsi.gov.uk

Your request for internal review should be submitted to us within 40 working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the Commissioner.

If having exhausted the review process you are not content that your request or review has been dealt with correctly, you have a further right of appeal to this office in our capacity as the statutory complaint handler under the legislation. To make such an application, please write to the First Contact Team, at the address below or visit the ‘Complaints’ section of our website to make a Freedom of Information Act or Environmental Information Regulations complaint online.

A copy of our review procedure is available here

Yours sincerely

Iman Elmehdawy
Lead Information Governance Officer

____________________________________________________________________

Thank you for this information

Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,
PROTECt
 
29th August 2013
 
Case Reference Number IRQ0507567
 
Dear [Name Removed]
 
Further to our acknowledgement dated 2 August 2013 we are now in a position to respond to your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
 
On 30 July 2013 you requested the following information:
 
“There must be some records held on Ms Gifford's involvement with the ICO for you to have been able to give me this email of explanation.
So since you are able to specify that there were meetings held between ICO employees and Ms Gifford, please could you send all documents on file regarding these occasions together with anything else that you might hold. 
And the names of ICO employees involved in anyway with Ms Gifford.”
 
 You clarified your request on 13 August 2013 as follows:
 
“I am asking with whom has she been in contact at these 'hosted' events etc - did P-pact pay for their attendance for instance and who has been 'providing advice' to Ms Gifford. Was it free? Or did the company pay in any way for their attendance for instance? Is there any financial relationship?”
 
 
Response to request
 
In response to the first part of your request we have searched our records for information held on meetings between the ICO and Mrs Gifford/ Public Partners.  We have also searched our records for information on events hosted by Mrs Gifford and attended by ICO staff. We confirm that no information is held in relation to the aforementioned meetings and/or events.
 
As advice and assistance we have attached an extract from an internal meeting note dated 30 July 2008 which refers to a workshop attended by the ICO and Mrs Gifford. The abbreviations and first names on the note refer to the following staff members:
SM- Sue Markey
DM-Dawn Monaghan
GT- Gerrard Tracy
Sarah- Sarah O’Cathain
Catherine- Catherine Vint (a former staff member)
 
 
As explained in our response to your previous request, Mrs Gifford acted as an advisory panel member in connection with the ICO’s Publication Scheme Development and Maintenance Initiative back in 2007. We have attached a copy of a generic invitation letter sent to panel members which we hope will provide clarification of the contribution expected from  advisory panel members. We have also attached an extract of the document covering the generic letter which mentions Mrs Gifford.
 
In relation to the second part of your request, we have searched our records and can confirm that no fees or expenses were paid by Mrs Gifford or Public Partners to ICO staff. It is worth clarifying that the ICO does not charge fees for carrying out speaking engagements or attending events on information rights issues, nor do we charge for providing advice to stakeholders or members of the public in relation to the legislation we enforce.
 
We have also searched our records for fees paid to Mrs Gifford or Public Partners and can confirm that no information is held in relation to this issue. While we have not paid fees to Mrs Gifford, we did pay Mrs Gifford/Public Partners expenses in relation to the attendance of Publication Scheme Initiative meetings back in 2007. A copy of the expenses paid is attached.
 
We have redacted personal data from the attached documents in reliance on section 40 (2) of the FOI by virtue of section 40 (3) (a) (i). This exemption enables a public authority to redact personal data relating to individuals other than the requester where the disclosure would breach a Data Protection Principle. 
To disclose this personal information would breach principle one of the Data Protection Act 1998 which states that personal data should be processed fairly and lawfully.
 
 
Finally, you have asked for the names of ICO employees who were involved in anyway with Mrs Gifford. As explained in our previous response, Mrs Gifford is a stakeholder and has been involved with the ICO on a number of occasions. While we do not hold a list of employees who met or provided advice to Mrs Gifford, you will see from the attached the names of employees involved with Mrs Gifford in relation to the meetings connected to the Publication Schemes Advisory Panel and workshops. In addition, The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Graham Smith has indicated that he has in the past attended meetings and events also attended by Mrs Gifford/ Public Partners but no relevant information is held. Mrs Dawn Monaghan has also indicated that she provided advice to Mrs Gifford on issues related to information governance however, no recorded information is held about this.

I hope you find the provided information of assistance
 
 
If you are dissatisfied with the response you have received and wish to request a review of our decision or make a complaint about how your request has been handled you should write to the Information Governance Department at the address below or e-mail [email address]
 
Your request for internal review should be submitted to us within 40 working days of receipt by you of this response.  Any such request received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the Commissioner.
 
If having exhausted the review process you are not content that your request or review has been dealt with correctly, you have a further right of appeal to this office in our capacity as the statutory complaint handler under the legislation.  To make such an application, please write to the First Contact Team, at the address below or visit the ‘Complaints’ section of our website to make a Freedom of Information Act or Environmental Information Regulations complaint online.
 
A copy of our review procedure is available here

Yours sincerely

Iman Elmehdawy
Lead Information Governance Officer

____________________________________________________________________ 

The ICO’s mission is to uphold information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals.

If you are not the intended recipient of this email (and any attachment), please inform the sender by return email and destroy all copies. Unauthorised access, use, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted.
Communication by internet email is not secure as messages can be intercepted and read by someone else. Therefore we strongly advise you not to email any information, which if disclosed to unrelated third parties would be likely to cause you distress. If you have an enquiry of this nature please provide a postal address to allow us to communicate with you in a more secure way. If you want us to respond by email you must realise that there can be no guarantee of privacy.
Any email including its content may be monitored and used by the Information Commissioner's Office for reasons of security and for monitoring internal compliance with the office policy on staff use. Email monitoring or blocking software may also be used. Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that any email you write or forward is within the bounds of the law.
The Information Commissioner's Office cannot guarantee that this message or any attachment is virus free or has not been intercepted and amended. You should perform your own virus checks.
__________________________________________________________________

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk

Yours faithfully,

[Name Removed]

casework, Information Commissioner's Office

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Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk

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Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Information Commissioner’s Office's handling of my FOI request 'Private company relationship

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

Yours faithfully,

[Name Removed]

Information Commissioner's Office

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17th September 2013

 

Case Reference Number RCC0513028

 

Dear [Name Removed]

Thank you for your correspondence dated
 
This correspondence will now be treated as a request for an internal
review of the response we provided to your recent request for information
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
 
We will aim to respond by 11 October 2013 which is 20 working days from
the day after we received your recent correspondence.  This is in
accordance with our internal review procedures which were provided with
our response.
 

Yours sincerely

Iman Elmehdawy
Lead Information Governance Officer

show quoted sections

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk

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

Copy of request for review September 1, 2013

Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,

My understanding from your reply is that Ms Gifford was invited by ICO officers - on two occasions - to attend meetings.

She was paid no professional fees for these meetings yet was paid expenses of £1,039.02., which indicates a 'special ' relationship with the ICO.

.....Yet, perhaps surprisingly, not one sentence if Ms Gifford's £1,039.92 contribution survives on ICO's files

1. Whose decision was it to make Ms Gifford a panel member?

2. Whose decision it was to invite Ms Gifford to these meetings and who decided on and signed off this expenditure?

In addition, you state the the Deputy Commissioner Graham Smith attended 'meetings and events' at which Ms Gifford was present.

Surely he has a work diary?

3. I would therefore like to know when these 'meetings' or 'events' were and of what they consisted .

We're they professional, or private 'meetings' and 'events' ?

4. I would also like to know the dates of these 'meetings and events' .

.....To enable me to examine whether they pre- dated the time that the ICO suddenly overturned its decision to allow me to read two withheld documents on Powys Health Board files - on which I am named - and, according to the files, subsequently failed to examine the public interest grounds of my request to do so.

You will recall that the case concerned, involved the negligent death of my father, GT Silkstone, in which Powys eventually had to admit - and apologise - for, after I obtained his notes.

And where Ms Gifford is logged as stating:

'She is looking out for something else to complain about.

That is why I am reluctant to let her have the notes’.

(Christine Gifford, P-Pact, employed by Powys Health Board.)

The comment was printed in Private Eye.

Yours faithfully,

Janet Treharne Oakley

Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,

As you seem to have no intention of answering this request within the legal timeframe, I would like to put it into review.

[first name redacted] Oakley

Yours faithfully,

[Name Removed]

new casework, Information Commissioner's Office

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Dear new casework,

As you seem to have no intention of answering this request within the legal time frame, I would like to put it into review.

And could you tell me what legal control 'the reviewer' of my request has over my request? And who this reviewer is employed

On 27 Sep 2013, at 15:53, [email address] wrote:

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27th September 2013

Case Reference Number IRQ0511387

Dear Mrs T0

I am writing to apologise as we will not be able to meet our response deadline to your Freedom of Information request.

By the way of explanation, we have been contacted by the reviewer of your request handled under the reference number IRQ0507567 which as you appreciate is closely related to this request. The response to this review may have an impact on our response to this request.

We will endeavour to respond to you on both issues (RCC0513028 and the new request IRQ0507567) as soon as possible.

We do apologise again for this delay and thank you for your patience

Yours sincerely

Iman Elmehdawy
Lead Information Governance Officer

Yours sincerely,

[Name Removed]

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

Nb spelling correction.....And who is this reviewer employed by?

Information Commissioner's Office

2 Attachments

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15th October 2013

 

Case Reference Number RCC0513028

 

Dear [Name Removed]

Please find attached the reviewer's response and the disclosed
documents.Please note that due to the size of attachments , we will send
them over 2 emails.

I hope you find the attached of assistance

 

Yours sincerely

Iman Elmehdawy
Lead Information Governance Officer

show quoted sections

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk

Information Commissioner's Office

1 Attachment

PROTECT

 

15th October 2013

 

Case Reference Number RCC0513028

 

Dear [Name Removed]

Please find attached part 2 of our response.Unfortunately, we have to send
a third email with the final attachment.

 

Yours sincerely

Iman Elmehdawy
Lead Information Governance Officer

show quoted sections

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk

Information Commissioner's Office

1 Attachment

PROTECT

 

15th October 2013

 

Case Reference Number RCC0513028

 

Dear [Name Removed]

Please find attached final part of our response.

Yours sincerely

Iman Elmehdawy
Lead Information Governance Officer

show quoted sections

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk

Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Information Commissioner’s Office's handling of my FOI request 'Private company relationship with ICO'.

Thank you for the following information.

But since you have now found yet more undisclosed information ...are you sure that, this time, all have now been supplied in accordance with the FoI Act, which, as you will be aware, covers hand written notes etc?

Because, if your stakeholders mooting withholding crucial files - simply because the bereaved are asking too many questions in NHS negligence cases - then their judgement in these matters tends to point to being the same as that being upheld by your organisation.

Your organisation which, according to the files, simply never considered my request for a ' public interest' wider examination of the DPA and stuck narrowly to defending the privacy of an external NHS company with links to the ICO against it.

Therefore since, in my experience, that the ICO seems to consistently miss the point of requests, withhold files - then discover errors , I think that a review is justified.

Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,

PROTECT

15th October 2013

Case Reference Number IRQ0511387

Dear Mrs TO

Further to our email of 27 September 2013 we are now in a position to respond to your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We do apologise for the delay in responding to your FOI request. I hope that the response to your review posted minutes ago on whatdotheyknow website explains the delay. Just to clarify, the reviewer ordered the disclosure of more information which would have also been in scope of this request.

On 1 September 2013 you requested the following information:

“My understanding from your reply is that Ms Gifford was invited by ICO officers - on two occasions - to attend meetings.
She was paid no professional fees for these meetings yet was paid expenses of £1,039.02., which indicates a 'special ' relationship with the ICO.

.....Yet, perhaps surprisingly, not one sentence if Ms Gifford's £1,039.92 contribution survives on ICO's files

1. Whose decision was it to make Ms Gifford a panel member?

2. Whose decision it was to invite Ms Gifford to these meetings and who decided on and signed off this expenditure?

In addition, you state the Deputy Commissioner Graham Smith attended 'meetings and events' at which Ms Gifford was present.

Surely he has a work diary?

3. I would therefore like to know when these 'meetings' or 'events' were and of what they consisted .

We're they professional, or private 'meetings' and 'events' ?

4. I would also like to know the dates of these 'meetings and events’.

Response to request

Please find below our response to the question you posed.

1. Whose decision was it to make Ms Gifford a panel member?

I understand that in your question above “panel member “refers to the
“advisory panel member in connection with the ICO’s Publication Scheme Development and Maintenance Initiative” which dates back to 2007 and which relates to the expenses paid to Ms Gifford.

No information is held in relation to whose decision it was to make Ms Gifford a Panel member but the template for the invitation to join the panel, which we disclosed to you, names both Dawn Monaghan and Sue Markey as contact points.

2. Whose decision it was to invite Ms Gifford to these meetings and who decided on and signed off this expenditure?

In addition, you state the Deputy Commissioner Graham Smith attended ‘meetings and events' at which Ms Gifford was present.

Surely he has a work diary?

We do not hold recorded information about whose decision it was to invite Ms Gifford to those meetings. However, in the invitation letter we did state that “we are intending that for most part communication with panel members will be via email. However we are planning for the panel to meet three times (January, May and September 2007) during the 12 month project period”.

From the invoices we supplied to you in response to your request handled under the reference number IRQ0507567 you can see that Dawn Monaghan and Gerard Tracey signed/ approved the expenses forms which were subsequently approved by the finance department.

The Deputy Commissioner Mr Graham Smith has confirmed that his work diary is electronic and that it has no entries prior to 5 December 2011, due to the ICO automatic deletion policy. His diary reveals no meeting with Christine Gifford since that date.

3. I would therefore like to know when these 'meetings' or 'events' were and of what they consisted.

In response to your request handled under IRQ0507567 we have provided you with copies of information related to Ms Gifford’s involvement with the ICO. I do apologise but we have inadvertently missed a meeting note for the advisory group dated 14 June 2007, a copy of which has been already disclosed to you in response to your review handled under the reference number RCC0513028.

Additionally, Christine Gifford was a member of the Hillsborough Independent Panel, and led the Panel on the discovery and disclosure of the information subsequently put in the public domain in support of the Report of the Panel in September 2012.In this capacity Ms Gifford together with other members of the panel, had a meeting with the ICO on disclosure issues in relation to Hillsborough. This meeting was held on 20 April 2011 and was attended by the following staff members; Graham Smith (Deputy Commissioner), Ian Miller (who no longer works for the ICO), Dawn Monaghan and Tony Dixon (who no longer works for Information Commissioner's Office).A Note of this meeting had been disclosed to you in response to your review handled under the reference number RCC0513028.

You also asked:

“We're they professional or private 'meetings' and ‘events’?”

While no recorded information is held to answer this part of your request, we have communicated with the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Graham Smith who indicated that any meetings he has had with Christine Gifford at any time during his career at the ICO have been on a professional basis only. He has had no social meetings with her and no one-to-one meetings. He has been at meetings, conferences and events when she has been among those present. These have always been about FOI/Data Protection/Information rights. He did not know Christine Gifford before he joined the ICO in July 2001.

All the information held in relation to meetings/events between the ICO and Ms Gifford has been disclosed to you response to your review handled under the reference number RCC0513028.

Ms Gifford together with hundreds of stakeholders is on our list and receives communications / invitations in relation to important events e.g. annual report launch or Data Protection conference. You may find the attached letter which was from the Commissioner to Ms Gifford of interest in relation to the launch of the ICO’s Information Rights Strategy. This letter was also sent to stakeholders.

A list of events has been disclosed to you response to your review handled under the reference number RCC0513028.

4. I would also like to know the dates of these 'meetings and events’.

Apart from the information provided above and in our previous response to your request handled under the reference number IRQ0507567 the searches we have carried out have not revealed more dates for meetings or events.

I hope you find the provided information of assistance

Please confirm, in light of the responses you received today, whether you would like a review on this request.

If you are dissatisfied with the response you have received and wish to request a review of our decision or make a complaint about how your request has been handled you should write to the Information Governance Department at the address below or e-mail [email address]

Your request for internal review should be submitted to us within 40 working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the Commissioner.

If having exhausted the review process you are not content that your request or review has been dealt with correctly, you have a further right of appeal to this office in our capacity as the statutory complaint handler under the legislation. To make such an application, please write to the First Contact Team, at the address below or visit the ‘Complaints’ section of our website to make a Freedom of Information Act or Environmental Information Regulations complaint online.

A copy of our review procedure is available here

Yours sincerely

Iman Elmehdawy
Lead Information Governance op

__________________________________________________________________

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk

Yours faithfully,

[Name Removed]
::::::

And could you still explain your previous comments about this 'reviewer' of my request - who apparently controls your response to my request..as I have requested today..... since your response was overdue.

.......

As you seem to have no intention of answering this request within
the legal time frame, I would like to put it into review.

And could you tell me what legal control 'the reviewer' of my
request has over my request? And who this reviewer is employed

On 27 Sep 2013, at 15:53, [email address] wrote:

PROTECT

27th September 2013

Case Reference Number IRQ0511387

Dear Mrs T0

I am writing to apologise as we will not be able to meet our
response deadline to your Freedom of Information request.

By the way of explanation, we have been contacted by the reviewer
of your request handled under the reference number IRQ0507567 which
as you appreciate is closely related to this request. The response
to this review may have an impact on our response to this request.

We will endeavour to respond to you on both issues (RCC0513028 and
the new request IRQ0507567) as soon as possible.

We do apologise again for this delay and thank you for your
patience

Yours sincerely

Iman Elmehdawy
Lead Information Governance Officer

Yours sincerely,

[Name Removed]

::::::

Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,

PROTECT

15th October 2013

Case Reference Number IRQ0511387

Dear [Name Removed]

Further to our email of 27 September 2013 we are now in a position to respond to your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We do apologise for the delay in responding to your FOI request. I hope that the response to your review posted minutes ago on whatdotheyknow website explains the delay. Just to clarify, the reviewer ordered the disclosure of more information which would have also been in scope of this request.

On 1 September 2013 you requested the following information:

“My understanding from your reply is that Ms Gifford was invited by ICO officers - on two occasions - to attend meetings.
She was paid no professional fees for these meetings yet was paid expenses of £1,039.02., which indicates a 'special ' relationship with the ICO.

.....Yet, perhaps surprisingly, not one sentence if Ms Gifford's £1,039.92 contribution survives on ICO's files

1. Whose decision was it to make Ms Gifford a panel member?

2. Whose decision it was to invite Ms Gifford to these meetings and who decided on and signed off this expenditure?

In addition, you state the Deputy Commissioner Graham Smith attended 'meetings and events' at which Ms Gifford was present.

Surely he has a work diary?

3. I would therefore like to know when these 'meetings' or 'events' were and of what they consisted .

We're they professional, or private 'meetings' and 'events' ?

4. I would also like to know the dates of these 'meetings and events’.

Response to request

Please find below our response to the question you posed.

1. Whose decision was it to make Ms Gifford a panel member?

I understand that in your question above “panel member “refers to the
“advisory panel member in connection with the ICO’s Publication Scheme Development and Maintenance Initiative” which dates back to 2007 and which relates to the expenses paid to Ms Gifford.

No information is held in relation to whose decision it was to make Ms Gifford a Panel member but the template for the invitation to join the panel, which we disclosed to you, names both Dawn Monaghan and Sue Markey as contact points.

2. Whose decision it was to invite Ms Gifford to these meetings and who decided on and signed off this expenditure?

In addition, you state the Deputy Commissioner Graham Smith attended ‘meetings and events' at which Ms Gifford was present.

Surely he has a work diary?

We do not hold recorded information about whose decision it was to invite Ms Gifford to those meetings. However, in the invitation letter we did state that “we are intending that for most part communication with panel members will be via email. However we are planning for the panel to meet three times (January, May and September 2007) during the 12 month project period”.

From the invoices we supplied to you in response to your request handled under the reference number IRQ0507567 you can see that Dawn Monaghan and Gerard Tracey signed/ approved the expenses forms which were subsequently approved by the finance department.

The Deputy Commissioner Mr Graham Smith has confirmed that his work diary is electronic and that it has no entries prior to 5 December 2011, due to the ICO automatic deletion policy. His diary reveals no meeting with Christine Gifford since that date.

3. I would therefore like to know when these 'meetings' or 'events' were and of what they consisted.

In response to your request handled under IRQ0507567 we have provided you with copies of information related to Ms Gifford’s involvement with the ICO. I do apologise but we have inadvertently missed a meeting note for the advisory group dated 14 June 2007, a copy of which has been already disclosed to you in response to your review handled under the reference number RCC0513028.

Additionally, Christine Gifford was a member of the Hillsborough Independent Panel, and led the Panel on the discovery and disclosure of the information subsequently put in the public domain in support of the Report of the Panel in September 2012.In this capacity Ms Gifford together with other members of the panel, had a meeting with the ICO on disclosure issues in relation to Hillsborough. This meeting was held on 20 April 2011 and was attended by the following staff members; Graham Smith (Deputy Commissioner), Ian Miller (who no longer works for the ICO), Dawn Monaghan and Tony Dixon (who no longer works for Information Commissioner's Office).A Note of this meeting had been disclosed to you in response to your review handled under the reference number RCC0513028.

You also asked:

“We're they professional or private 'meetings' and ‘events’?”

While no recorded information is held to answer this part of your request, we have communicated with the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Graham Smith who indicated that any meetings he has had with Christine Gifford at any time during his career at the ICO have been on a professional basis only. He has had no social meetings with her and no one-to-one meetings. He has been at meetings, conferences and events when she has been among those present. These have always been about FOI/Data Protection/Information rights. He did not know Christine Gifford before he joined the ICO in July 2001.

All the information held in relation to meetings/events between the ICO and Ms Gifford has been disclosed to you response to your review handled under the reference number RCC0513028.

Ms Gifford together with hundreds of stakeholders is on our list and receives communications / invitations in relation to important events e.g. annual report launch or Data Protection conference. You may find the attached letter which was from the Commissioner to Ms Gifford of interest in relation to the launch of the ICO’s Information Rights Strategy. This letter was also sent to stakeholders.

A list of events has been disclosed to you response to your review handled under the reference number RCC0513028.

4. I would also like to know the dates of these 'meetings and events’.

Apart from the information provided above and in our previous response to your request handled under the reference number IRQ0507567 the searches we have carried out have not revealed more dates for meetings or events.

I hope you find the provided information of assistance

Please confirm, in light of the responses you received today, whether you would like a review on this request.

If you are dissatisfied with the response you have received and wish to request a review of our decision or make a complaint about how your request has been handled you should write to the Information Governance Department at the address below or e-mail [email address]

Your request for internal review should be submitted to us within 40 working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the Commissioner.

If having exhausted the review process you are not content that your request or review has been dealt with correctly, you have a further right of appeal to this office in our capacity as the statutory complaint handler under the legislation. To make such an application, please write to the First Contact Team, at the address below or visit the ‘Complaints’ section of our website to make a Freedom of Information Act or Environmental Information Regulations complaint online.

A copy of our review procedure is available here

Yours sincerely

Iman Elmehdawy
Lead Information Governance op

__________________________________________________________________

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk

Yours faithfully,

[Name Removed]

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

Yours faithfully,

[Name Removed]

Information Commissioner's Office

PROTECT

 

16th October 2013

 

Case Reference Number RCC0516637

 

Dear [Name Removed]

Thank you for your correspondence dated 15 October 2013.
 
This correspondence will now be treated as a request for an internal
review of the response we provided to your recent request for information
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. 
We will aim to respond by 12 November 20 which is 20 working days from the
day after we received your recent correspondence.  This is in accordance
with our internal review procedures which were provided with our response.
 

Yours sincerely

Iman Elmehdawy

Lead Information Governance Officer

show quoted sections

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk

Information Commissioner's Office

Dear Mrs Oakley
 
Internal review case reference: RCC0516637
Request for information case reference: IRQ0511387
 
Your request for an internal review of the handling of your information
request IRQ0511387 of 01 September 2013 has been passed to me to
undertake.  I have carefully considered all the relevant information, and
I have reached the following findings.
 
I uphold all aspects of the response sent to you on 15 October 2013.
However I find that we exceeded the statutory time limit for confirming
whether information is held and providing any recorded information falling
within the scope of your request, and in doing so breached section 10(1)
of the Freedom of Information Act.
 
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the review you may make a
section 50 complaint to the ICO. 

How to complain

Information on how to complain is available on the ICO website at:
[2][1]http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom...
By post: If your supporting evidence is in hard copy, you can fill in the
Word version of our complaint form, print it out and post it to us with
your supporting evidence. A printable Freedom of Information Act
complaints form is available from the ICO website. Please send to:
Case Reception Unit
First Contact Team
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF

By email: If all your supporting evidence is available electronically, you
can fill in our online complaint form. Important: information included in
the form, and any supporting evidence will be sent to us by email.

Yours sincerely
 
 
 
Lisa Adshead
Group Manager
Policy Delivery
 

show quoted sections

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk

References

Visible links
1. http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom...

Dear Information Commissioner’s Office,

No complaint.

Happy enough because it was explained to me that there would be a hold up, which I accepted - and said I'd be happy to wait for another week.

I think the reply went past this date too.

But I see no point in complaining about a couple of days - it's a waste of everyone's time and effort.

But I would be grateful if you could answer my following requests promptly.

Yours faithfully,

[Name Removed]

casework, Information Commissioner's Office

Thank you for emailing the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).  This
is an automatic acknowledgement to tell you we have received your email
safely.  Please do not reply to this email.

 If your email was about a new complaint or request for advice it will be
considered by our Customer Contact Department.  One of our case officers
will be in touch as soon as possible. If you have sent us a complaint we
may need specific information from you before we are able to consider it. 
You can find out the type of information we would need from the
[1]complaints section of our website. 

 If your email was about an ongoing case we are dealing with it will be
allocated to the person handling your case.

If your email was about a case you have already submitted, but is yet to
be allocated to one of our case officers your email will be added to your
original correspondence and will be considered when your case is
allocated. Please note that further correspondence may not be viewed until
your case is allocated to a case officer.

 If you require any further assistance please contact our Helpline on
0303 123  1113 or [2]01625 545745 if you prefer to use a national rate
number.

 We will not respond to correspondence where the ICO is copied in. If
you have a matter you would like to discuss with us please call our
Helpline on the number above.

         Thank you for contacting the Information Commissioner's Office

 ICO Customer Contact Department

 

Making a request for information held by the ICO?

For more information about the ICO’s handling of requests for information
please visit our [3]Information about us section of our website.

Equality and Diversity

The Information Commissioner’s Office is committed to providing equality
for all and opposes all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination. We
have produced a questionnaire to help us to produce a profile of our
customers. The questionnaire can be found on our [4]Equality and Diversity
webpage.

Our newsletter

Details of how to sign up for our quarterly newsletter can be found at
[5]Information Commissioner's Office enewsletter.

Twitter

Find us on Twitter at [6]http://www.twitter.com/ICOnews

 

show quoted sections

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.org.uk

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.ico.gov.uk/complaints.aspx
2. file:///tmp/blocked::tel:01625 545745
3. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.ico.gov.uk/about_us.aspx
4. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.ico.gov.uk/about_us/how_we_work/equality_and_diversity.aspx
5. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.ico.gov.uk/tools_and_resources/enewsletter.aspx
6. file:///tmp/blocked::http:/www.twitter.com/ICOnews