Vetting of political nominees
Dear House of Lords Appointments Commission,
In a letter to the Jewish Labour Movement dated 17 January 2020, Lord Bew said that your process for vetting political nominees to the House of Lords "includes checking with relevant government departments and agencies and other organisations ... as well as carrying out a media search".
Please can you disclose, in an electronic format, any handbook, manual or other document setting out the details of the steps you undertake to vet political nominees.
If not covered by the above disclosure, please also disclose:
1. A list of 'relevant government departments' with which you check
2. A list of 'agencies and other organisations' with which you check
3. Any recorded information you hold setting out how the 'media search' is undertaken, eg which media outlets you review and how you search them
4. Any recorded information you hold setting out how findings of these checks and searches will be assessed and what happens where concerning material is found.
You will note that I am not asking about any specific case relating to any specific individual, but simply for general information regarding your processes. There is obviously a strong public interest in this material being disclosed.
Yours faithfully,
G Kanter-Webber
Commoner
Dear Sir/Madam
Thank you for your email. We will provide an answer within 20 working
days.
Alex Morrow
Supporting the House of Lords Appointments Commission
G/40, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ
Tel: 0207 276 6794
[1][HOLAC request email]
[2]http://lordsappointments.independent.gov...
[3]How we handle your data
On Sun, 19 Jan 2020 at 13:41, G Kanter-Webber <[4][FOI #636200 email]>
wrote:
Dear House of Lords Appointments Commission,
In a letter to the Jewish Labour Movement dated 17 January 2020, Lord
Bew said that your process for vetting political nominees to the House
of Lords "includes checking with relevant government departments and
agencies and other organisations ... as well as carrying out a media
search".
Please can you disclose, in an electronic format, any handbook, manual
or other document setting out the details of the steps you undertake to
vet political nominees.
If not covered by the above disclosure, please also disclose:
1. A list of 'relevant government departments' with which you check
2. A list of 'agencies and other organisations' with which you check
3. Any recorded information you hold setting out how the 'media search'
is undertaken, eg which media outlets you review and how you search them
4. Any recorded information you hold setting out how findings of these
checks and searches will be assessed and what happens where concerning
material is found.
You will note that I am not asking about any specific case relating to
any specific individual, but simply for general information regarding
your processes. There is obviously a strong public interest in this
material being disclosed.
Yours faithfully,
G Kanter-Webber
Commoner
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Sir/Madam
Please see attached response to your request.
Regards
Alex Morrow
Supporting the House of Lords Appointments Commission
G/40, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ
Tel: 0207 276 6794
[1][HOLAC request email]
[2]http://lordsappointments.independent.gov...
[3]How we handle your data
On Sun, 19 Jan 2020 at 13:41, G Kanter-Webber <[4][FOI #636200 email]>
wrote:
Dear House of Lords Appointments Commission,
In a letter to the Jewish Labour Movement dated 17 January 2020, Lord
Bew said that your process for vetting political nominees to the House
of Lords "includes checking with relevant government departments and
agencies and other organisations ... as well as carrying out a media
search".
Please can you disclose, in an electronic format, any handbook, manual
or other document setting out the details of the steps you undertake to
vet political nominees.
If not covered by the above disclosure, please also disclose:
1. A list of 'relevant government departments' with which you check
2. A list of 'agencies and other organisations' with which you check
3. Any recorded information you hold setting out how the 'media search'
is undertaken, eg which media outlets you review and how you search them
4. Any recorded information you hold setting out how findings of these
checks and searches will be assessed and what happens where concerning
material is found.
You will note that I am not asking about any specific case relating to
any specific individual, but simply for general information regarding
your processes. There is obviously a strong public interest in this
material being disclosed.
Yours faithfully,
G Kanter-Webber
Commoner
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[5][FOI #636200 email]
Is [6][HOLAC request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to House of Lords Appointments Commission? If so, please
contact us using this form:
[7]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/change_re...
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published
on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[8]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...
For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:
[9]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses
will be delayed.
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[holac%20request%20email]
2. http://lordsappointments.independent.gov...
3. https://lordsappointments.independent.go...
4. mailto:[foi%20#636200%20email]
5. mailto:[foi%20#636200%20email]
6. mailto:[holac%20request%20email]
7. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/change_re...
8. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...
9. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...
Dear Alex,
Please could you arrange for someone more senior to conduct an internal review.
Your refusal notice is a template copy-paste standard response, which is not appropriate or acceptable in these circumstances. I did not request any information about any individual peerage, so "the importance of confidentiality with regard to peerages" is simply not a relevant factor here. Since that is the only factor you listed as supporting the exemption, it seems clear that the public interest favours disclosure.
Yours sincerely,
G Kanter-Webber
Dear Sir/Madam,
Please see the attached internal review carried out on our response to
your freedom of information request.
Kind Regards
Elizabeth Stewart
Supporting the House of Lords Appointments Commission
G/40, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ
Tel: 0207 276 6794
[1][HOLAC request email]
[2]http://lordsappointments.independent.gov...
[3]How we handle your data
Dear Mr Kater-Webber
Please find attached further response from HOLAC, in relation to your
original FOI request.
Kind regards
Alex Morrow
Supporting the House of Lords Appointments Commission
G/40, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ
Tel: 0207 276 6794
[1][HOLAC request email]
[2]http://lordsappointments.independent.gov...
[3]How we handle your data
On Fri, 7 Feb 2020 at 14:42, G Kanter-Webber <[4][FOI #636200 email]>
wrote:
Dear Alex,
Please could you arrange for someone more senior to conduct an internal
review.
Your refusal notice is a template copy-paste standard response, which is
not appropriate or acceptable in these circumstances. I did not request
any information about any individual peerage, so "the importance of
confidentiality with regard to peerages" is simply not a relevant factor
here. Since that is the only factor you listed as supporting the
exemption, it seems clear that the public interest favours disclosure.
Yours sincerely,
G Kanter-Webber
Dear House of Lords Appointments Commission Mailbox
Please may I remind you that, following the Information Commissioner's decision under reference IC-42774-T8X3, you are required to supply me with the information I requested by 6 January 2022.
Yours sincerely
G Kanter-Webber
Dear Mr Kanter-Webber,
Thank you for your email and apologies for the slow response.
As you will be aware from the ICO's decision notice, either party has the
right to appeal against this decision notice to the First-tier Tribunal
within 28 days of the Decision Notice. On this occasion, the deadline was
29 December 2021. In December, the Commission applied to the First Tier
Tribunal for an extension to this deadline, which was granted. We now have
until 14 January 2022 to file any protentional notice of appeal. We are
therefore not able to issue you with any of the documents in question
until after this date, should the Commission decide not to appeal.
We will be in touch in due course,
Kind regards
Elizabeth Stewart
Secretariat to the House of Lords Appointments Commission
G/40, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ
Tel: 07872828699
[1][HOLAC request email]
[2]http://lordsappointments.independent.gov...
[3]How we handle your data
On Wed, 22 Dec 2021 at 11:39, G Kanter-Webber <[4][FOI #636200 email]>
wrote:
Dear House of Lords Appointments Commission Mailbox
Please may I remind you that, following the Information Commissioner's
decision under reference IC-42774-T8X3, you are required to supply me
with the information I requested by 6 January 2022.
Yours sincerely
G Kanter-Webber
Dear House of Lords Appointments Commission Mailbox,
I believe your update is due today.
Yours sincerely,
G Kanter-Webber
Dear House of Lords Appointments Commission Mailbox,
I believe your update was due on Friday.
Yours sincerely,
G Kanter-Webber
Dear Mr Kanter-Webber,
Please see the attached letter and associated attachments regarding your
Freedom of Information request. Please accept my apologies that this
information has been slightly delayed in reaching you. We have endeavoured
to get this information to you as soon a possible after the First Tier
Tribunal deadline which was on Friday.
All the best
Liz Stewart
Secretariat lead to the House of Lords Appointments Commission
G/40, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ
Tel: 07872828699
[1][HOLAC request email]
[2]http://lordsappointments.independent.gov...
[3]How we handle your data
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[holac%20request%20email]
2. http://lordsappointments.independent.gov...
3. https://lordsappointments.independent.go...
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