UC Full Service IT System - Reviews & checks

John Slater made this Freedom of Information request to Department for Work and Pensions

This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was refused by Department for Work and Pensions.

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

UC IT System – Full Service

In response to Parliamentary question 167109:

https://www.parliament.uk/business/publi...

The Minister paints a very positive picture of the UC full service IT system.

RFI1: Since 01 January 2016 has the UC programme been subjected to any reviews by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (“IPA”) (e.g. PARs, Gateway Reviews, health checks etc)? If so please disclose any reports produced by the IPA as a result.

RFI2: Since 01 January 2016 has the UC full service IT system been the subject of any assessments, health checks or tests by any external organisations (excluding the IPA)? If so please disclose any reports produced by those organisations as a result.

Yours faithfully,

John Slater

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no-reply@dwp.ecase.co.uk on behalf of DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

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Dear John Slater,

I am writing in response to your request for information, received 6th
September.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions's handling of my FOI request 'UC Full Service IT System - Reviews & checks'.

I’m sorry but the Department’s response lacks any credibility. Setting aside any intent to publish in the future the Department should have disclosed the first parts of RFI1 and RFI2. Confirming that these reviews/health checks have taken place cannot be avoided by citing S.22.

In respect of citing S.22 this isn’t credible. To date the Department has only an ever published PARS/Gateway Reviews/Health check about Universal Credit after it has been forced to do by the Information Commissioner or the First-Tier Tribunal. In order to cite S.22 the Department must have settled on exactly what will be published, including what redactions would be applied. I strongly doubt this is the case.

I now turn to the public interest test. As usual this is a “boilerplate” response that the Information Commissioner has strongly criticised in the past. A binding Upper Tribunal judgement was clear that a public interest test must be contents based. The Department’s response fails this test.

Given the Department’s history of being less than truthful about Universal Credit I suggest that the public interest in the requested information being disclosed is overwhelming in all circumstances.

Please think again.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/u...

Yours faithfully,

John Slater

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.
 
By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant
information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct. 
 
If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally
expect a response within 20 working days.
 
Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
please contact us.
 
For further information on the Freedom of Information Act within DWP
please click on the link below.
 
[1]http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...
 

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no-reply@dwp.ecase.co.uk on behalf of DWP Strategy Freedom of Information, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear John Slater,

I am writing in response to your request for information, received 2nd
October.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

John Slater left an annotation ()

I have sent a complaint about the DWP citing S.22 to the ICO today. I will provide updates when there is any progress.

John Slater left an annotation ()

On 16 June 2020 the ICO issued a decision notice that was mostly in my favour (some info withheld due to s.31(1)(a).

The ICO notified me on 20 July 2020 that the DWP has appealed the decision notice to the First-Tier Tribunal.

This is the second appeal that the DWP has underway trying to prevent information about Universal Credit being disclosed.