Our reminder email, (see "No more Openness at the Cabinet Office") regarding our FOIA request "Cabinet Office - missing RIPA Commissioner Annual Reports for 2005", did actually result in prompt response from the Cabinet Office FOI Team, within 4 hours !
However the actual content of the reply is a bit of a surprise.
We had expected the Cabinet Office to simply confirm that they had the two documents, and that they would be published soon, so therefore the Freedom of Information Act 1998 Section 22: Information Intended For Future Publication Exemption, would apply.
Instead:
I am writing to advise you that following a search, I have established that the information you requested is not held by this Department. I can inform you, however, that the reports will be published in due course. When received, they will be laid before each House of Parliament by the Prime Minister in accordance with the provisions of the Regulatory and Investigatory Powers Act.
The mystery deepens.
How likely is it that the outgoing Interception of Communications Commissioner and the Intelligence Services Commissioner, all of whose previous Annual Reports were submitted to the Prime Minister by July of the year after the calendar year to which they refer, would not have done so for their 2005 reports ? Their fellow RIPA Commissioner, the Chief Surveillance Commissioner did submit his 2005 - 2006 Annual Report, and it was published online by July 2006.
Remember that anything which might compromise national security or personal data privacy is excluded from the public parts of these reports.
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