Joint Medical Group Secretariat
Headquarters Joint Medical Group
Coltman House,
Defence Medical Services Whittington,
Tamworth Rd
Lichfield
WS14 9PY
Mr Gavin Roberts
Reference: FOI2018/16009
FOI2019/00065
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
FOI2019/00220
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
FOI2019/00468
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Date: 18 January 2019
Dear Mr Roberts
Thank you for your recent enquiries to the Ministry of Defence (MOD).
On 17 December 2018 you wrote:
“When was the last date MOD administered Pertusis and Anthrax simultaneously on troops
on its Armed forces?
When was the last date MOD administered multiple vaccines on its Armed Forces? (5 or
more simultaneously and/or within 4 weeks)”
On 2 January 2019 you wrote:
“MOD have stated before that troops in Gulf War 90/91 were given informed consent
information surrounding the vaccine program.
Personally I did not receive any information or option. (The vast majority of troops claim the
same) I was concerned that it seemed very dangerous to herd us like cattle and administer
so many vaccines. I challenged it. With no information I requested to opt out, as far as I'm
aware my Sgt requested if I was able to do so, the answer back down the chain of command
was very clear, it was NOT optional It was a Direct Order, thus I stood in at the end of the
queue and have suffered the consequences ever since!
Could you please forward a copy of DATA /Document which contained the information that I
and others as you claim should have been briefed on in 90/91, The document which MOD
sent out to units/medical units
Any other Data/Evidence that backs up MOD claim of ordering her Units to give Informed
consent to its troops.”
On 6 January 2019 you wrote:
“The time between the administration of Live vaccines has increased over the years since
1990.
What lessons were learned from only having a few days/weeks between live vaccines such
as Anthrax?
If this practise is not followed, is there an increased risk of autoimmune conditions?
If the practise is not followed, is there an increased risk of cancers?”
On 10 January 2019 you wrote:
“What percentage (%) of the vaccine regime (inc Anthrax) prepared troops that DID NOT
DEPLOY INTO THEATRE (Saudi, Iraq, Kuwait) are suffering/have suffered Gulf War
symptoms?”
Your enquiries are being treated as requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) 2000.
It has been determined that significant effort is needed to identify and retrieve all information held
by the MOD, that is required to answer all of your questions. Under the Appropriate Limit and Fees
Regulations public authorities are able to aggregate two or more requests where they relate to any
extent, to the same or similar information. provided certain conditions are met. These are where
the FOI requests:
•
made by one person, or by different persons who appear to the public authority to be
acting in concert or in pursuance of a campaign;
•
made for the same or similar information; and
•
received by the public authority within any period of 60 consecutive working days.
Under Section 12(4) of the FOI Act, provided these conditions are met, the MOD is permitted to
regard the estimated cost of complying with any of the requests to be the estimated total cost of
complying with all of them for the purpose of considering whether complying with the request would
exceed the appropriate limit.
The MOD is therefore applying exemption 12(4) to your FOIA requests of 25 October and 5
November. It has been estimated that the cost of complying with your requests aggregated under
the Fees Regulations as explained above would exceed the appropriate limit and therefore under
the terms of Section 12 of the Act, we are not obliged to comply. The appropriate limit is specified
in regulations and for central government this is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of
one person spending three and a half working days in determining whether the Department holds
the information, locating, retrieving and extracting it.
The MOD may be able to provide some information within scope of your request if you reduce or
refine it to bring the cost of compliance under the appropriate limit. Under Section 16 of the FOIA,
Advice and Assistance, the MOD can advise that to provide the information you requested on 17
December and 10 January would require the retrieval and review of a large number medical
records, something that could not be achieved within the appropriate limit.
A search can be conducted for any studies/research undertaken by the MOD and held centrally
that might answer the questions you asked on 6 January. Similarly a search can be undertaken for
anycentrally held MOD policy/guidance within the scope of your 2 January request.
If you would like to refine your requests or have any queries regarding the content of this letter,
please contact this office in the first instance.
If you wish to complain about the handling of your request, or the content of this response, you can
request an independent internal review by contacting the Information Rights Compliance team,
Ground Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail xxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xx). Please
note that any request for an internal review should be made within 40 working days of the date of
this response.
If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may raise your complaint directly to the
Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act.
Please note that the Information Commissioner will not normally investigate your case until the
MOD internal review process has been completed. The Information Commissioner can be
contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Further details of the role and powers of the Information Commissioner can be
found on the Commissioner's website at https://ico.org.uk/.
Yours sincerely,
Joint Medical Group Secretariat
