Redaction of Tom Cooper’s email of August 2020 regarding the Swift Review
Dear Information Rights Team,
Please can you disclose the email sent by UKGI’s Tom Cooper to Charles Donald and Sarah Munby of 26 August 2020 [Inquiry ref: UKGI00045960] without the redaction which has been applied to the bullet point on page 3/4, after: ‘Since last we spoke’.
I am advised by UGKI, via FOI, that the Post Office has applied this redaction on the grounds of Legal Professional Privilege:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r...
It is unclear how an email, sent by UKGI’s Tom Cooper to other UKGI officials and not, it would appear to the Post Office, can be claimed by the Post Office retrospectively to be protected by its Legal Privilege.
Moreover when this document was originally disclosed via FOI in 2022 the grounds of Out of Scope, not LPP, were cited for the bullet point being redacted:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/2...
The UKGI General Counsel, Richard Watson, who was party to the 2020 email exchange was not offering advice either to UKGI or to the Post Office in connection with existing or reasonably contemplated litigation. Instead the email exchange concerns discussions around Tim Parker’s role in commissioning the Swift Review. Legal Privilege under which the Swift Review itself was originally protected (and extensive material pertaining to the Swift Review) has already been waived by the Post Office.
There can also be no reasonable justification for this bullet point still to be withheld under LPP when the body of the rest of the email remains unredacted.
Yours sincerely,
Eleanor Shaikh
Our ref: FOI2025/00248
Dear Eleanor Shaikh,
Thank you for your request for information which was received on 27th
March. Your request is being considered under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.
The Act requires that a response must be given promptly, and in any event
within 20 working days. We will therefore reply at the latest by 28th
April.
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.
Regards,
Data Protection and Information Rights Team
100 Wood Street,
London,
EC2V 7ER
Dear Eleanor Shaikh,
We are writing in respect of your information request, FOI2025/00248. At
present, our view is that your request falls within the scope of the
qualified exemption at section 42 of the Freedom of Information Act ("
FOIA"), relating to legal professional privilege.
As permitted by section 10 of the FOIA, Post Office Limited (" Post
Office") requires further time to consider the public interest test in
relation to this exemption. An extension is permitted until such time as
is reasonable in the circumstances. Having considered the FOIA Code of
Practice, Post Office considers that an extension of 20 working days is
appropriate in this instance and will therefore aim to respond to you by
28th May.
As per the Code of Practice we are liaising with the other organisations
involved and hope to get the response to you sooner than the 20 working
days.
Kind regards,
Data Protection and Information Rights Team
100 Wood Street
London
EC2V 7ER
[1][email address]
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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Dear Eleanor Shaikh,
Thank you for your patience whilst we have been handling your information
request. We have concluded that after extending this case on 28 April
2025, the exemption under section 42 of the Freedom of Information Act,
and the accompanying extension, was not available to us. Therefore, please
find the response attached relating to your information request, including
the disclosable document.
With kind regards,
Data Protection and Information Rights Team
100 Wood Street,
London,
EC2V 7ER
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