Andrew Gwynne MP made an information request to the Highways Agency on 28th August 2013. He received a refusal letter from Robert Castleman 0n 25th September – exactly 20 working days later.  Section 5 (2) of the Environmental Information Regulations   says that  “Information shall be made available under paragraph (1) as soon as possible and no later than 20 working days after the date of receipt of the request”. Please find below his request an internal review by the Highways Agency.

From: GWYNNE, Andrew
Sent: 03 October 2013 16:16
To: ha_info@highways.gsi.gov.uk
 

Dear Sirs,

Subject: My freedom of information request of 28^th August 2013

Please pass this on to the person dealing with internal reviews.

Please refer to Robert Castleman’s refusal letter of 25^th September 2013

Could you please carry out an internal review of this decision.

Please note that:

1.     The information being sought is environmental information and should be considered under the Environmental Information Regulations and not the Freedom of Information Act

2.     Under Environmental Information Regulation 12 a public authority can only refuse to disclose information  if an exception under paragraphs 12 (4) or 12 (5) applies or if  personal data is being sought.

3.     Under EIR 14(3) the refusal should specify any exemption being relied upon. No exemption is specified in the refusal letter and I am not asking for personal information.

4.     The fact that someone else has been refused the information and has applied for an internal review and therefore the public authority feels disclosure would not be appropriate does not fall under any of the exceptions. It is not therefore a valid reason for refusing my requests.

5.     Mr Silverman and I met with Stephen Hammond, the Under- secretary of State for Transport  and Agency executives on 3^rd July to discuss motorway litter. A follow up meeting is planned for December.  The items under “A” in my request largely relate to statements made by the Agency executives at the meeting which I feel need to be clarified including references to the management of the cleansing in Area 10 in which my constituency lies.  I therefore have a direct interest in the information. Your David Cooper (Strategic Roads Division 02079444949) is aware of these discussions. Similarly the request under “B” for copies of your cleansing strategies will be highly pertinent to this ongoing dialogue.

6.     None of the information being requested requires the extraction and collation of data and hence any significant commitment of resources.

7.     Under EIR 11(4), following this request for an internal review,  you are required to notify me of your decision “as soon as possible” and no later than 40 working days. I trust that as the issues are straight forward that I will receive your decision within the next week.

Yours faithfully

ANDREW GWYNNE MP

Shadow Health Minister Labour – Denton and Reddish

Constituency Office, Denton Town Hall, Market Street, Denton, M34 2AP

House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA

Tel: 0161 320 1504 (Constituency) Tel: 0207 219 4708 (House of Commons Voicemail) Fax: 0161 320 1503

Web:www.andrewgwynne.co.uk     Twitter: @GwynneMP    Facebook: AndrewGwynneMP

Serving the communities of: 

Audenshaw, Denton, Dukinfield, Haughton Green, Heaton Chapel, Heaton Norris and Reddish 

in the House of Commons