Referendum Costs - Internal Emails

Waiting for an internal review by Scotland Office of their handling of this request.

Dear Scotland Office,

Please provide me with a copy of all internal emails sent between the FOI department of the Scotland Office and any other individuals in the Scotland Office, I only require emails in specific relation to the recent FOI request about the referendum costs for your department. In order to assist you with handling this request, I do not require any emails on the subject of referendum costs that predate 14th April 2015. I trust this will provide a narrow enough range, allowing you to obtain the information within the 18 hour statutory limit. I would be shocked if a mere month worth of correspondence could not be collated in this time period

It is also worth noting that I have no interest in the personal information of any individuals. Please redact any information that could be deemed 'personal' in line with S40(2) of FOIA. In doing so, I would not expect to see any emails that have received a blanket redaction, rather only personal information be removed.

Yours faithfully,

Clare Munro

Scotland Office

Good Morning Ms Munro

Thank you for your email of 18 May. 15

I trust that I have now issued you with the response which was originally issued on 23 April you will not require the emails as below, however if you would like to discuss, please let me know.

Regards

Tony Conte
Scotland Office

Tony Conte | Senior Administrator | Scotland Office | 1 Melville Crescent | Edinburgh | EH3 7HW
Tel: 0131 244 9066 | www.gov.uk/scotland-office | Twitter:@ScotlandOffice

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Hi Tony,

Thanks for this response. I couldn't see a response issued on the 23rd of April, only a response on the 18th. By the by, thank you for coming back to me on this issue.

I would still however, contrary to your presumption, be interested in seeing these internal emails. As you have indicated you do not hold this information. That being said, my request, unlike the previous request of a similar nature asked for costs up to a date roughly 2/3 months after the first request of this nature. I presume in your role, you would have competed reasonable search in line with FOIA to ensure the Scotland Office would not, for whatever reason, hold or have obtained such financial information in those two months?

I look forward to your response.

Yours faithfully,

Clare Munro

Scotland Office

Thank you for your email.

 

I am now out of the office and will return on Tuesday 26 May 2015 when it
will be read.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Scotland Office

Good afternoon Clare

Thank you for your email which I have passed to the officer who will look into your request and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Regards

Tony

Tony Conte | Senior Administrator | Scotland Office | 1 Melville Crescent | Edinburgh | EH3 7HW
Tel: 0131 244 9066 | www.gov.uk/scotland-office | Twitter:@ScotlandOffice

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Dear Scotland Office,

Can you update me on this? Thanks

Yours faithfully,

Clare Munro

Scotland Office

2 Attachments

Good afternoon Clare

Please see the attached response.

Regards

Tony Conte
Scotland Office

Tony Conte | Senior Administrator | Scotland Office | 1 Melville Crescent | Edinburgh | EH3 7HW
Tel: 0131 244 9066 | www.gov.uk/scotland-office | Twitter:@ScotlandOffice

The UK Government’s office for Scotland
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Dear Scotland Office,

Hi Tony,

Thank for your replies. I appreciate you are carrying out a job, most likely as the middle man in the chain - I really do appreciate that but you have once again my request has not been addressed.

I very clearly (at the top of this page) asked for internal emails (metadata) relating to my initial request - this is very clearly a second request for information under FOI. It should be noted that this request was submitted on the 18th of May and you have significantly breached your legal obligation to return requests made under Freedom of Information within 20 working days. This may be genuine mistake by your office but this seems like the latest attempt to block information being released on this topic, I'm sure I need not remind you that S.77 of FOIA states it is a criminal offence to block information under FOI.

With regards the attachment titled 'internal review'. Please tell me that was not the outcome of the Scotland Office's internal review?! An IR response like that from a government department is quite frankly embarrassing. I presume it isn't as I was not issued with a reference number for my internal review.... can you please confirm why this was the case? If it was not the case, please provide me with both my IR number and case number for this second request. If you could please provide assistance/confirmation on these matter it would be much appreciated, I have found the elongation of a simple request incredibly frustrating. In moving forward please furnish me with a detailed explanation addressing all points raised above, an apology and a timescale for immediate disclosure or I will be forced to take this matter forward with the ICO.

Yours faithfully,

Clare Munro

Scotland Office

3 Attachments

Dear Clare

Thank you for your email below but I can only advise that the only request we have received is the attached and for which I attach the response that you have received. The reference for this request is DB 890.

If you would send me the second request I will aim to get a response to you as quickly as possible.

Regards

Tony Conte
Scotland Office

Tony Conte | Senior Administrator | Scotland Office | 1 Melville Crescent | Edinburgh | EH3 7HW
Tel: 0131 244 9066 | www.gov.uk/scotland-office | Twitter:@ScotlandOffice

The UK Government’s office for Scotland
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Dear Scotland Office,

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r... - my second request which you responded to but never provided me with a reference number.

If you look at your whatdotheyknow.com webpage you can see two separate requests. DB 890 links to the request about referendum costs. I still require the metadata per my second request as you would have carried out reasonable search in completion of my first request.

Please provide the internal emails by the close of play Friday 3rd July 2015 or I will submit my ICO complaint submission. That is a tight deadline but as you have replied to this it was clear it was received and acknowledged by the Department (your response on the 18th of May evidences this).

Yours faithfully,

Clare Munro

Scotland Office

Dear Ms Munro

Thank you for your email of 2 July 2015. To confirm that we have not received any request for an internal review from you but if you would like to send this request, please do so and we will aim to get a response to you urgently.

Regards

Tony Conte
Scotland Office

Tony Conte | Senior Administrator | Scotland Office | 1 Melville Crescent | Edinburgh | EH3 7HW
Tel: 0131 244 9066 | www.gov.uk/scotland-office | Twitter:@ScotlandOffice

The UK Government’s office for Scotland
Get in the Know on Facebook and LinkedIn

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Dear Scotland Office,

Tony, this is getting ridiculous, in my last response I sent you a link to my request. Under FOI I do not need to resubmit my request. Please follow the link and see it very clearly on the WDTK webpage, titled "referendum costs - internal emails". This will be the last message from me partaking in this silly game. If you fail to comply, Future messages and screenshots of this page will be sent to the ICO caseworker.

Yours faithfully,

Clare Munro