Speaker's house

The request was refused by House of Commons.

Dear House of Commons,

Please provide me with an electronic copy of any photographs you hold of the Speaker's private apartment within the Parliamentary estate. If the cost-threshold is to become engaged, please limit this request to photos taken since John Bercow took office.

Yours faithfully,
Steve Elibank

FOICOMMONS, House of Commons

Dear Mr Elibank

Thank you for your request for information dated 30 June 2011, received by us on the same day, which is copied below.

We will endeavour to respond to your request promptly but in any case within 20 working days i.e. on or before 28 July 2011.

If you have any queries about your request, please use the request number quoted in the subject line of this email.

Yours sincerely

Alistair Duncan
IRIS Support Officer

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FOICOMMONS, House of Commons

Dear Mr Elibank,

Thank you for your request for information which is copied below.

You asked for an electronic copy of any photographs of the Speaker’s private apartment within the Parliamentary estate. Information that relates to the residential addresses of Members of Parliament is held by the House of Commons, however, it is not subject to FOI and therefore the House is not obliged to disclose it. As the information you have asked for relates directly to the residential address of a Member of Parliament, your request is refused. For further information about the application of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act to information of this nature please refer to the linked document:

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/pdf/uks...

You may, if dissatisfied with the treatment of your request, ask the House of Commons to conduct an internal review of this decision. Requests for internal review should be addressed to: Freedom of Information Officer, Department of HR and Change, House of Commons London SW1 0AA or [House of Commons request email]. Please ensure that you specify the nature of your complaint and any arguments or points that you wish to make.

If you remain dissatisfied, you may appeal to the Information Commissioner at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely

Katarina Ndrepepaj | Freedom of Information Coordinator
Information Rights and Information Security (IRIS) Service
House of Commons

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Dear FOICOMMONS,

I wish to request in Internal Review of my request "Speaker's house" and will expect a full response within twenty working days as recommended by the Information Commissioner's Office.

You have rejected my request because it "relates to the residential address" of a Member of Parliament. However, my request does not relate to the address of Speaker's house. I know the address of Speaker's house. Everyone knows the address of Speaker's house. It is a notable public building in the UK.

The exemption upon which you are relying was clearly designed to safeguard MPs' personal information, ie. to stop me from requesting, say, the consituency home address of Hazel Blears MP. Since John Bercow's official address is public record, the exemption clearly does not reply.

If you hold photographs of this publicly-owned and -funded building, they should be released, and I look forward to receiving them soon.

Please reply to acknowledge receipt.

Steve Elibank

FOICOMMONS, House of Commons

Dear Mr Elibank,

Thank you for your email dated 13 August 2011 requesting an internal review of Freedom of Information request ref: F11-232, which was received on 15 August 2011.

We will endeavour to respond within 20 working days, i.e. on or before 13 September 2011. However, it may be necessary to extend this deadline by another 20 working days, for example if the review is complicated and requires the assistance of multiple resources. If this is the case, and your review cannot be completed in the shorter timeframe, we will inform you of this.

If you have any queries about the review, please contact me with the reference in the subject title.

Alistair Duncan
IRIS Support Officer

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Dear FOICOMMONS,

Your Internal Review of FOI request F11-232 is due today and I expect a response.

Yours sincerely,
Steve Elibank

FOICOMMONS, House of Commons

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Elibank,

Please see our response attached.

Yours sincerely

Katarina Ndrepepaj | Freedom of Information Coordinator
Information Rights and Information Security (IRIS) Service
House of Commons

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