Redacted UC Programme Board Papers - Nov, Dec 2019 and Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr 2020

The request was successful.

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

In respect of the Universal Credit Programme Board papers deposited on 26 April 2022 here:

https://depositedpapers.parliament.uk/de...

Please disclose the unredacted versions of the following documents that have been listed beneath the statutory exemption being relied on by the DWP.

Section 36
https://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPape...

Section 35
https://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPape...

Section 43
https://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPape...

Section 31
https://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPape...

https://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPape...

As it is highly unlikely that the Department will change its mind, I would be grateful if it agreed to waive the IRR section of the process such that this matter can be referred to the Commissioner without undue delay.

Yours faithfully,

John Slater

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

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freedom-of-information-request@dwp.gov.uk,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FoI) request received on 2nd
May You asked for:

In respect of the Universal Credit Programme Board papers deposited on 26
April 2022 here:

https://secure-web.cisco.com/1CPTKGPDrNo...

Please disclose the unredacted versions of the following documents that
have been listed beneath the statutory exemption being relied on by the
DWP.

Section 36
https://secure-web.cisco.com/1wsuIJZ6vTN...

Section 35
https://secure-web.cisco.com/151J19ij-AK...

Section 43
https://secure-web.cisco.com/1jGki8JPngb...

Section 31
https://secure-web.cisco.com/15NUnfPfOfg...

https://secure-web.cisco.com/1oLEed3V2ya...

As it is highly unlikely that the Department will change its mind, I would
be grateful if it agreed to waive the IRR section of the process such that
this matter can be referred to the Commissioner without undue delay.

DWP Response

We can confirm that we hold information falling within the terms of your
request; however, we need more time to consider your request.

We are writing to advise you that the following exemptions may apply to
the information that you have requested:

Section 31 - Law enforcement

Section 35 - Formulation of government policy

Section 36 - Prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs

Section 43 - Commercial interests

Section 10(3) of the FoI Act provides that, where public authorities have
to consider the balance of the public interest in relation to a request,
they do not have to comply with the request until such a time as is
reasonable in the circumstances.

We have not yet reached a decision on the balance of the public interest.
We need to consider all the circumstances of the case, to determine where
the balance of the public interest lies in relation to the information
that you have requested. Therefore, we will not be able to respond to your
request in full within 20 working days of the initial receipt of your
request.

Accordingly, I hope to let you have a response by 28/6/22.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me quoting the
reference number above.

Y ours sincerely,

Central FOI Team,
Department for Work and Pensions

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Given the Department's history of abusing Section 10(3) FOIA, I write to remind it of the Commissioner's guidance. He states that a refusal must be issued within 40 working days of the original request unless there are exceptional circumstances.

I shall be writing to the Commissioner to ask him to instruct the Department to provide its refusal within the 40 working day limit.

As the Department is relying on Section 36, please confirm as part of its refusal that the opinion of a qualified person has been obtain and who that was.

Yours faithfully,

John Slater

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

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freedom-of-information-request@dwp.gov.uk,

1 Attachment

Dear John Slater,

I am writing in response to your request for information, received 2nd
May.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions's handling of my FOI request 'Redacted UC Programme Board Papers - Nov, Dec 2019 and Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr 2020'.

I do not agree with the arguments provided by the DWP to justify its reliance on the various exemptions. Given the age of the information the claims that it remains current & disclose is likely to result in prejudice is not credible.

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

Yours faithfully,

John Slater

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

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Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Whilst preparing my complaint to the ICO I noticed that my original request for information omitted the following document:

Paper5b-MovetoUC_Use_ResearchFindings_R
https://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPape...

This was redacted relying on Section 35.

Please add this to the scope of this request for information. Given that the related paper "3.Move to UC (UCPB121119 – Paper 5) 12.11.19)" has also been redacted relying on S.35 I see no reason for this addition to unduly delay my request, unless the DWP seeks to use the process to delay matters unnecessarily.

Yours faithfully,

John Slater

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been received by the DWP FOI mailbox.
 
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of the FOI Act 2000, you can normally expect a response within 20 working
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1 Attachment

Dear John Slater,

I am writing in response to your request for information, received 28th
June.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Slater

Please see attached correspondence from the DWP.

Regards
DWP Central FoI Team

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John Slater left an annotation ()

ICO has issued a DN (ref IC-186305-M7N7) stating that all info, apart from that covered by S.31, must be disclosed. I'm happy with the DN. Now waiting to see if DWP complies of appeals for the FTT (again!).

John Slater left an annotation ()

The DWP initially appealed the ICO DN (appeal ref: EA/2023/0298). However, following the FTT decision in EA/2022/0328, EA/2023/0034 and EA/2023/0036, the DWP has decided to withdraw its appeal.

Dear DWP freedom-of-information-requests,

In light of the DWP withdrawing its appeal (EA/2023/0298) on 06 November 2023 when will the Department be disclosing the information that it initially refused to disclose?

Yours sincerely,

John Slater

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

Thank you for contacting the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
 
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freedom-of-information-request@dwp.gov.uk,

1 Attachment

Dear John Slater,

I am writing in response to your request for information, received 17th
December.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Thank you for your response of 28 December 2023. I have checked and I did not receive anything from the DWP regarding this RFI on 09 November 2023.

I would be grateful if you could send the information. I am happy for the Department to send the information directly to my email address. I believe it has this as I emailed the central FOI team on 14 November 2023 about this case.

Yours faithfully,

John Slater

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

Thank you for contacting the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
 
This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been received by the DWP Freedom of Information mailbox and will be
processed accordingly.
 
Please note that this mailbox is for Freedom of Information (FOI) or
Internal Review (IR) requests only – If you have submitted a non FOI or IR
related email then we may not be able to action it.
 
 
Timescales for responding
 
Freedom of Information (FOI) Requests
 
If your email is a valid FOI request, as per Section 8 of the FOI Act
2000, you can normally expect a response within 20 working days.
 
Internal Review (IR) Requests
 
You can normally expect a response within 20 working days.
 
We will respond to all valid FOI and IR requests within our statutory
timescales, if we are unable to do so then we will contact you to explain
why. Please note that we are not able to process your FOI or IR request in
any shorter timescales that you may indicate.
 
 
Receiving a response from us
 
Please note that email FOI and IR responses will be issued from
[email address]
 
We recommend that you add this address to your email contacts otherwise
the response may be treated as Spam or Junk by your email account
provider.  
 
 
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Should you have any further queries in connection with your FOI or IR
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DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

Dear Mr Slater

Further to your email advising us that you did not receive any email from us on 9 November, I have reissued our response to the personal email address we hold for you.

Yours sincerely

DWP Central FOI Team.

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