Information Rights Team
Post Office Limited
Ground Floor
Finsbury Dials
20 Finsbury Street
London EC2Y 9AQ
033 3665 3951
Your reference:
Our reference: FOI2023/00154
John O'Sullivan
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
-
31 March 2023
Dear
Mr O'Sullivan,
Freedom of Information Request – FOI2023/00154
Please note, this letter is repeated for cases with the fol owing references numbers:
FOI2023/00115; FOI2023/00126; FOI2023/00146; FOI2023/00154; FOI2023/00161;
FOI2023/00162; FOI2023/00171.
I am writing in response to your email received by Post Office Limited
(“Post
Office”) on 22 March, in which you asked:
“Do you have access to David Smith's evidence to the Horizon
Inquiry?That may have a summary of who he is/was?Similarly do you
not have any obligation to keep a record of all the people you used as
Expert Witnesses in order to aid you prosecute SPM's?To that end and
please treat this as a new request how many people were so used and
what was their Job Title and Employer?”
As with all FOI requests, Post Office takes these seriously and supports the principle of
transparency. Although your request can be in the form of a question, rather than a
request for specific documents, the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(“FOIA”) does
not oblige an authority to answer a question if this would mean creating new
information or giving an opinion or judgment that is not already recorded, which
applies to the question you have raised.
As we have explained on many previous occasions, your emails to Post Office sent as
requests under the Freedom of Information Act are frequently not requests for
recorded information, including ones sent with the reference numbers outlined above.
Notwithstanding this, we have provided further assistance and clarification where
possible.
As of 31 March 2023, 26 emails you have sent since 1 January 2023, have been
processed by the Information Rights Team. We treat all information requests with due
care and consideration in accordance with the legislation, but those that do not
contain a request for recorded information place an extra burden on the Post Office,
which is potentially detrimental to our service for all FOI requesters.
Where a true FOI request is received, we may still need to take into account the
burden placed on the organisation and the serious purpose behind the request, in-line
with the Information Commissioner’s guidance on section 14 of the FOIA.
It may be helpful to draw your attention to public information that may be of interest.
a number of your emails relate to the ongoing Horizon IT Public Inquiry, which is
covered extensively at the Inquiry website
(www.postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk). We
Public
urge you to use this website, although you should be aware that the Inquiry itself is
not subject to the FOIA.
In addition, Post Office’s website contains detailed information about historical matters
at the following link:
https://corporate.postoffice.co.uk/
We once again remind you that you should refer to the Information Commissioner’s
Office (ICO) guidance on how to access information from a public authority, should
you wish to submit a request for recorded information. This can be found at the
following link:
https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/official-information
Yours sincerely,
Information Rights Team
xxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx
http://corporate.postoffice.co.uk/secure-corporate/about-us/access-to-information/
@postofficenews
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
