Work & Pension’s Committee machine guns

jimmy3 made this Freedom of Information request to Department for Work and Pensions

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Department for Work and Pensions did not have the information requested.

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

My questions refer to security processes surrounding the Work & Pensions meeting held on 9th December 2013 at 16:30 in the Wilson room.

According to multiple witnesses (members of the public, mainly physically or mentally disabled) who arrived to observe the above meeting, they were initially met by standard airport and court type security, metal detectors, belongings checked, they were frisked - all pretty much what I would expect.

The public area was off camera (although some public members did appear in view of the camera to find their seats and I did witness one electric wheelchair user briefly on camera.

However the witnesses stated something rather disturbing which wasn't seen on camera which could explain their unusual silence throughout the proceedings. There were several policemen or security guards with machine guns, not pointed down, instead pointing TOWARDS the public area throughout this meeting.

My questions are as follows:

1. Who from the DWP asked for these guards with machine guns to be present?

2. Who from the DWP asked for these guards to keep their machine guns pointed toward the public area?

3. Please provide the report which deemed it necessary to have guards with machine guns pointed toward the public during this meeting.

My fourth question is only for if you're unable to answer any one of the above questions.

4. Please specify the Government department I should send this FoI request to if you don't hold the above information on any question I ask above.

(For public reference, the meeting can be watched here although the public area and the guards with machine guns are off camera:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqJoGMKI... )

Yours faithfully,
Mr Glynne Powell.

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D Cook left an annotation ()

THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE THAT WOULD RIP IDS AND HIS HENCHMEN TO PIECES if they could get their hands on him! People like my friend's daughter who:
1) was sanctioned when her her father died for not looking for enough jobs that week?
2) in the coldest winter for 50 years she had no money to heat her home or feed her child
3) She couldn't send her child to school because she had no money to launder her school uniform or pay for bus fare.
4) in the daytime they went to the local shopping mall and library to keep warm and at night they both slept in the same bed.
5) The local foodbank was that inundated with urgent requests for help she was only given enough food for three days
6) she stole toilet paper from the public toilets as she had no money to buy any.
7) 12 weeks she was without money and this contributed to her having a nervous breakdown (she only went to an ATOS medical this week, I know because I took her in our car and as night follows day she'll be found "fit" for work)
8) The effect and affect of all this has made a normally happy child withdrawn, frightened and depressed
How is this reform????
I REPEAT HOW IS THIS REFORM??????
1984 IS ALIVE AND WELL AND RUN BY THE TORIES!!!

Neville Sibery left an annotation ()

IDS is the Bedroom Tax man.
He must bear the responsibility when a room used for disability,including large amounts ( this is how they are sent out) of incontinence pads,sztocks of toilet paper etc become "bedrooms" in the Coalition Dictionary.First time I have heard of this new minister for the disabled - the other two were not much use.Oh for a Minister who will actually plead the case of the Disabled.

G Steel left an annotation ()

The DWP have consistently denied the impact on the so-called "reforms"
1. People (in their hundreds of thousands) in crisis have sought help from foodbanks.
2. Debt from council tax and rent arrears are going into meltdown.
3. Sick and disabled have committed suicide or died whilst fighting appeals against cruel WCA assessments
4. Slave labour is now in cruel numbers and this is not some Eastern European traffickers' IT'S AT THE HANDS OF THE GOVERNMENT see http://thesleaze.co.uk/wage-slaves-862.h...
5. sanctions for bonuses have caused untold misery.
I could write a dissertation on this welfare reform, but do I need to, the DWP et al are being exposed every single day and as someone recently said "somethings going to give"

jimmy3 left an annotation ()

Thanks to DPAC for making people known about my FoI request. All we seek is the truth.

http://dpac.uk.net/2013/12/machine-guns-...

C Robinson left an annotation ()

It won't be long before they are using the machine guns on us, campaigners' of injustice have been massacred before in the peterloo massacre

see http://uk.ask.com/wiki/Peterloo_Massacre

..."The Peterloo Massacre (or Battle of Peterloo) occurred at St Peter's Field, Manchester, England, on 16 August 1819, when cavalry charged into a crowd of 60,000–80,000 that had gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation. The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 had resulted in periods of famine and chronic unemployment, exacerbated by the introduction of the first of the Corn Laws. By the beginning of 1819, the pressure generated by poor economic conditions, coupled with the relative lack of suffrage in Northern England, had enhanced the appeal of political radicalism. In response, the Manchester Patriotic Union, a group agitating for parliamentary reform, organised a demonstration to be addressed by the well-known radical orator Henry Hunt. Shortly after the meeting began local magistrates called on the military authorities to arrest Hunt and several others on the hustings with him, and to disperse the crowd. Cavalry charged into the crowd with sabres drawn, and in the ensuing confusion, 15 people were killed and 400–700 were injured. The massacre was given the name Peterloo in an ironic comparison to the Battle of Waterloo, which had taken place four years earlier."

This gov are pushing the most affable people into civil disobedience, hunger and no shelter makes the agitator and then the freedom fighter out of the meekest of people, suffice to say there's big trouble ahead!!!!!

Even judges have seen the disgusting effects of welfare "reform" and given food vouchers to people that stole because they said the DWP wouldn't pay them.
IF THIS WAS AN ISOLATED CASE WOULD THE JUDGES' BELIEVE PEOPLE THAT SAID THEY STOLE BECAUSE THE WOULDN'T PAY THEM!! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...

I see a double amputee at my local market entrance begging with a fit for work notice and my heart goes out to him because my relative was told by a sneering decision maker at the DWP "It doesn't matter if you have only one leg! Even double amputees don't qualify for ESA!
These people are heartless monsters that will rue the day they acted like they did, unless they never become ill, disabled, unemployed or old! Oh and the poor man that begs in the market place was recently rushed into hospital, I don't know what was wrong with him, but, I can only assume it's from sitting in the cold begging for hours on end!

A Garbett left an annotation ()

perhaps it won't be long before they will be firing machine guns at people begging for bread, perhaps it's what they want?
A person with an IQ under 100 can see trouble on the horizon.
I know how the DWP made me feel when they stripped me of benefits for nearly 3 months and I'm ashamed to admit it, but I would have stolen food if my child was crying with hunger, whilst the fat cat DWP ministers are denying people even their basic human rights.

Ashley Walters left an annotation ()

come on GET REAL!!!
I'm working - so I can't be called a skiver (I hate that term by the way), however, I know about the ever increasing number of people that have died or committed suicide because they were found fit for work.
I became aware of the govts shenanigans when they tried to strip my (now deceased father) of his ILF and reduce his care package.
I have read some terrible accounts of how dying people have been treated by the DWP and can only assume they are rubbing their hands in glee when yet another claimant is stripped of benefit or dies.
I agree with everything written above & see no need to repeat it. The "laughable" thing is IDS and Cameron both said: the sick and vulnerable have nothing to fear, I think those sweeping statements i.e. lies could be added to the list of Greatest lies of all time e.g.

(This is not a particular top 10 - just some of my favourites)

1) I have a gift for you - the Trojan horse
2) There's 100% beef in those burgers - Tescos
3) I did NOT have sex with that woman - Bill Clinton
4) I married for love - Anna Nicole Smith
5) There are WMD in Iraq
6) The Holocaust never happened
7) The war will be over by Christmas - WWI Oct 1914
8) I am NOT a crook - Richard Nixon, Watergate
9) If I'm elected - all politicans'
10) Your pension's safe with me - Robert Maxwell

Mike Taylor left an annotation ()

Not many people realise yet but our establishment are declaring war on us, it's citizens. Who's side are you on?

John Wallace left an annotation ()

When the Coalition pushed through the change to fixed five-year terms it wasn't immediately clear why this was so important to them. Now that they are trying to push through a law that will prevent more or less any organisation from criticising them during the year leading up to the election, its all a bit clearer.

c fellows left an annotation ()

John Wallace people won't forget how they were treated!
The sanctioned on JSA when there were no jobs to be had, the sick and unemployed driven to suicide and poverty.
Yes, they had the media on their side (especially the Daily Mail) in their brutal attack on anyone on benefits.
They used Mick Phillpott as their poster child for their excuse in their systematic attack on anyone on welfare, now the tide seems to be turning (if not slowly)and they have been exposed for what they are i.e monsters and IDS...this so-called christian is getting as bad as Hitler in his treatment of the poor sick & disabled! He certainly has blood on his hands! Mind you I doubt very much that he'll ever be able to ever go anywhere without looking over his shoulders again. Just to be clear I am NOT making threats online, I'm just stating facts
Sooner rather later IDS and his "henchmen" will pay for their actions because he has blood on his hands

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

1 Attachment

Dear Glynne Powell,

Please see attached response to your FoI request.

Kind regards,

DWP Central FoI Team

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Dear DWP freedom-of-information-requests,

Thanks for your reply. You state "Information requests regarding security arrangements in Portcullis House are the responsibility of Parliament"

Please kindly provide me with the appropriate internet link of 'Parliament' in which to direct my FoI request.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Glynne Powell.

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

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

Dear Mr Powell,

Thank you for your email

In a bid to be helpful, we have provided you with a link to the relevant information holder.

As you will be aware this is not information held by DWP and so there is nothing more we can usefully add to this.

Kind regards,

DWP central FOI Team

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Dear DWP freedom-of-information-requests,

Thank you for the information you have provided. I acknowledge that you have provided everything you can and I thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Glynne Powell.

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

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Dear DWP freedom-of-information-requests,

Further to my previous message and further to your message saying this is a Parliament matter.

I have contacted both chambers of Parliament and both claim to have nothing on file regarding this request.

Due to the expiration rules on putting in ICO complaints it appears that I would have to enter them individually rather than collectively.

In order for armed police to be present there needs to be documentation in existence, because armed police are not DWP staff members, they are outsourced and that outsourcing creates documentation.

This matter is now going to the ICO for investigation.

Please note that I do have requests for the same thing with other departments so please don't take this personally.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Glynne Powell.

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

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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 'Work & Pension’s Committee machine guns'.

Further to my previous message I realised that I must request an internal review from yourselves before I can take it to the ICO.

My reasoning though is as contained in that previous message.

I was told you had no information on file regarding my FoI, however you did add it is a Parliament matter.

I have contacted both chambers of Parliament and both claim to have nothing on file regarding this request.

In addition to Parliament, I created further FoI requests to various departments in order to obtain this information.

Due to the ICO rules I must now follow through with the process before taking it to them.

Here is the issue:

In order for armed police to be present there needs to be documentation in existence, because armed police are not DWP staff members, they are outsourced and that outsourcing creates documentation.

If you have that documentation I kindly request to see it. The armed police (they were certainly armed, but that's not my question) were guarding Iain Duncan Smith as he made his way into the Wilson room. He is head of the DWP and that is your department. Thus any ordering of security would be outsourced by the DWP or Parliament (although to cover all bases I do have requests with other departments for the same information)

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

Yours faithfully,

Mr Glynne Powell.

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

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

Dear Glynne,

Thank you for your request for review as set out below. I can confirm that I am of senior grade and independent of the original decision maker.

In reviewing the request I can only uphold the previous decision provided, in that the Department does not hold this information.

It may be helpful to you if I point out that this was not a DWP meeting, but rather a meeting of the Work and Pensions Select Committee who are part of Parliament. You can find further details of that committee here:
http://www.parliament.uk/business/commit...

You can see the official minutes of that meeting here:
http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commo...

While our ministers attended to give evidence, this was a meeting set up the committee in Parliament's premises, at the Wilson Room in Portcullis House. DWP was not involved in setting the venue, nor any other arrangements for this meeting, it being a matter for Parliament. As such we hold no information to answer your request.

Central FoI Team

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jimmy3 left an annotation ()

For public reference, I found the information I needed from my request at this link:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/w...