Following on from the surprising and slightly suspicious claim from the Home Office that they do not hold the information requested (see the previous blog article The War on Tourism and Photographers - where are the Prohibited Places under the Official Secrets Act 1911 ?), and that they have passed the request on to the Ministry of Justice,
it was felt best not to rely on the Government's inter departmental postal system (remember the HMRC lost Child Benefit national database disaster ?), and so a separate copy of the FOIA request was emailed to the Ministry of Justice on.
An acknowledgment has been received, on Monday 7th July 2008, so the FOIA clock is now counting down for the Ministry of Justice. Will they prove to be better at responding to FOIA requests than the Home Office are ? In theory, since they are in charge of the FOIA legislation, having mustated from the former Ministry for Constitutional Affairs, they should be fully trained and aware of how to handle this request.
The Ministry of Justice seems to be another organisation with an over large standard email footer.
It is worth noting that both the FOIA requests to the Home Office and to the Ministry of Justice were signed with a pseudonym, although an offer to supply a Name and Address if necessary was included. There was also a reminder that supplying a traceable name and address, rather than simply a hard to trace email replt address, is specifically not legally required under the Freedom of Information Act, something which is clearly stated in the FOIA Guidance from the Information Commissioner's Office and from the former Department for Constitutional Affairs, and now from the Ministry of Justice themselves.
The correspondence so far:
Subject: Freedom of Information acknowledgement
Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2008 10:23:15 +0100
From: "[surname, first name]" <[firstname plus initial.surname] @justice.gsi.gov.uk>
To: [email address]<< Ack [pseudonym] 3 - 7 - 08.doc >> (Sent on behalf of [name of civil servant])
Dear Mr
Please find enclosed your Freedom of Information acknowledgement.
[bame of civil servant]
Access Rights Unit
This e-mail (and any attachment) is intended only for the attention of the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all copies and inform the sender by return e-mail.This e-mail (and any attachment) is intended only for the attention of the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all copies and inform the sender by return e-mail.
This e-mail (whether you are the sender or the recipient) may be monitored, recorded and retained by the Ministry of Justice. E-mail monitoring / blocking software may be used, and e-mail content may be read at any time. You have a responsibility to ensure laws are not broken when composing or forwarding e-mails and their contents.
The original of this email was scanned for viruses by the Government Secure Intranet virus scanning service supplied by Cable&Wireless in partnership with MessageLabs. (CCTM Certificate Number 2007/11/0032.) On leaving the GSi this email was certified virus free.
Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for legal purposes
The email enclosure was in Microsoft Word format , which, at least, the Ministry of Justice's email system managed to send as a proper email attachment.
[pseudonym]
[email address]7 July 2008
Ref. FOI/55166/08/ [initials of civil servant]
Dear MrFreedom of Information Request
Thank you for your e-mail dated 3 July 2008.
You requested: 1) The name and location of any 'Prohibited Place' declared, 'by Order of a Secretary of State', either permanently or 'for the time being', in accordance with the Official Secrets Act 1911 section 3 definition of a prohibited place. 2) Any further categories of Prohibited Place as per the Official Secrets Act 1911 defined in subsequent legislation eg. Licensed Nuclear sites under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965, or a site belonging to or used for the purposes of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority as per Statutory Instrument 1994 No. 968 The Official Secrets (Prohibited Places) Order 1994.
Your request is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and will be answered in due course.Please quote ref.: FOI/55166/08/[initials of civil servant] in all future correspondence.
If you have any queries about this request do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely
[name of civil servant]
Access Rights Unit
For completeness, here is the re-stated FOIA request:
Ministry of Justice
Selborne House
54 Victoria Street
London
SW1E 6QW
United KingdomE-mail: general.queries@justice.gsi.gov.uk
Thursday 3rd July 2008
Dear Sirs,
I am trying to work out where one is not permitted to take
photographs, in what might seem to be a public place.I sent a Freedom of Information Act Request on 17th June 2008, to
the Home Office (reference T13353/8), but they have now replied to
say that they do not hold the information requested, and that they
have passed on the request to you at the Ministry of Justice.For the avoidance of doubt, I am submitting this as a formal
Freedom of Information Act 2000 request to the Ministry of Justice:There is a lot of confusion, amongst the public but also amongst
private sector security guards or Police Community Service
Officers, or even Police Constables, as to where Public Photography
is restricted, and under what legal power.Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000:
Please disclose
1) the name and location of any "Prohibited Place" declared, "by
Order of a Secretary of State", either permanently or "for the
time being", in accordance with the Official Secrets Act 1911
section 3 Definition of a prohibited place.2) Any further categories of Prohibited Place as per the Official
Secrets Act 1911, defined in subsequent legislation. e.g. Licensed
Nuclear Sites under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965, or "a site
belonging to or used for the purposes of the United Kingdom Atomic
Energy Authority," as perStatutory Instrument 1994 No. 968
The Official Secrets (Prohibited Places) Order 1994
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1994/Uksi_19940968_en_1.htmor
"any electronic communications station or office belonging to, or
occupied by, the provider of a public electronic communications
service"under the Communications Act 2003
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2003/ukpga_20030021_en_593) Do the restrictions on the right of entry to
"a place belonging to or used for the purposes of the CAA"
under the Civil Aviation Act 1982 section 18 Official secrets
also apply to photography at Civil
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