special advisers: FOIA
Dear House of Commons,
This is a Freedom of Information request about special advisers. It follows a previous request made in 2015, which was assigned the reference number F15-499.
I am making the request because I believe there is a strong and clear public interest in ensuring that special advisers are properly accountable to the UK legislature and the public.
s.16 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 states: “(1)The Minister for the Civil Service must—
(a)prepare an annual report about special advisers serving Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, and
(b)lay the report before Parliament.”
1. Please state in which years, since 2010, such a report has been laid before the House of Commons.
2. Please provide copies of the two most recent reports.
Thank you for the time you will invest in preparing a response to this request. If you consider that some information is exempt from disclosure please cite the section of the FOIA you are using to redact information. In line with the spirit and intent of the legislation, please do not withhold information on a 'blanket' basis and ensure any redactions you make are sufficiently granular.
Where applying exemptions which contain a public interest text, please also explain, in line with the guiding principles of the Information Tribunal, how the public interest would be, or would be likely to be, materially prejudiced by disclosure. I would prefer to receive all information in electronic format and in machine-readable formats where applicable. I would be grateful if you could acknowledge receipt of this request.
Thank you,
Lucas Amin
Dear Mr Amin,
Freedom of Information request F17-251
Thank you for your request for information dated 12 June 2017, received by
us on the same date, which is copied below.
When a General Election is called, Parliament is dissolved and there is no
‘House of Commons’ for the purposes of the Freedom of Information 2000 Act
(FOIA). As a result, there is no public authority to which the 20 working
day response deadline is capable of applying. The time limits are
therefore suspended during the period of dissolution and resume when the
House of Commons first meets following the General Election.
As your request was received during the dissolution period, the 20 working
day time limit will commence when the House returns after the General
Election, which will be a date – yet to be agreed – sometime after the
election itself.
Further information about the FOIA and Dissolution can be found on our web
pages here:
[1]http://www.parliament.uk/site-informatio....
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information already published as part of our transparency publications can
be found on the parliamentary webpages here:
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Additionally, details of information routinely requested which isn’t held
by the House of Commons can be found on the parliamentary webpages here:
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In the meantime, if you have any queries about your request, please
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Yours sincerely,
Sarah Price
IRIS Support Officer
Information Rights and Information Security (IRIS) Service | House of
Commons
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Dear Mr Amin,
Freedom of Information Request F17-251
Thank you for your request for information as copied below. You asked two
questions about the annual report about special advisers laid before
Parliament, and we have sought to answer your questions below.
1) Please state in which years, since 2010, such a report has been laid
before the House of Commons.
This information is held by the House of Commons. Annual reports
regarding Government Special Advisers have been laid before the House of
Commons each year since (and including) 2010.
2) Please provide copies of the two most recent reports.
Copies of these reports are held by the House of Commons. However, these
reports are prepared by the Cabinet Office each December and published on
their website here:
[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/collection....
As this information is already reasonably accessible to you otherwise than
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), your request is refused.
In refusing your request the House is applying the exemption set out in
section 21 (1) and (2) (a) of the FOIA. This is an absolute exemption and
the public interest test does not apply.
You may, if dissatisfied with the handling of your request, complain to
the House of Commons. Alternatively, if you are dissatisfied with the
outcome of your request you may ask the House of Commons to conduct an
internal review of any decision regarding your request. Complaints or
requests for internal review should be addressed to: Information Rights
and Information Security Service, Research & Information Team, House of
Commons, London SW1A 0AA or [2][House of Commons request email]. Please ensure
that you specify the full reasons for your complaint or internal review
along with 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,
[3]www.ico.gov.uk.
Yours sincerely,
Information Rights Manager
Information Rights and Information Security (IRIS) Service | House of
Commons
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Click [5]here for information about FOI in the House of Commons,
or to see what we publish.
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