Letter from Dr Bernie Doeser to Andrew
George MP
I hope that you have been able to have a break
over Christmas and let me take this opportunity to wish you a
successful 2009.
I am writing in respect of the public campaign
to keep Ashton Post Office open to which you tent your much valued
support in the summer. As you recall Post Office Ltd would not
provide us with the financial, usage, demographic or geographic
information on which they based their decision to select Ashton
for closure. As the limited information that they did give us,
in the form of the Branch Access Report, was so flawed we had
no faith in the fairness of the decision that they took.
Early in the consultation period (on 18 July)
I requested the above mentioned background information from Post
Office Ltd under the Freedom of Information Act but which they
subsequently refused to supply. I then requested an internal review
by the Post Office of their decision to decline to provide this
information, which was solely on the basis of commercial confidentiality,
and in my view a reason not relevant to most of the information
I had asked for.
As the consultation period was ending, and the
Post Office had not responded to my request for a review, on 26 August
I submitted a formal complaint under the FOI to the Information
Commissioners Office.
A week later I was informed, by the Post Office,
that the internal review had upheld the Post Offices original
decision but it had failed to offer any relevant reason as to
why the information I requested had been declined. Indeed the
response had the flavour of a pro-forma reply which simply repeated
much of the background to the Network Change Programme which was
available on the Post Offices website.
I then contacted the information Commissioners
Office through their web form and advised them that the Post Offices
internal review had completed unsatisfactorily and that I wished
to proceed with the complaint.
On 10 November, having not received any
response from the Information Commissioners Office, either to
the original complaint, or to my follow-up on the web form, I
emailed the Information Commissioners Office requesting an update
on the status of my complaint, but again received no response.
In frustration on 22 November I wrote again to the Information
Commissioners Office expressing my disappointment that they had
not responded to my letter, web form or email over the past three
months and that if they did not respond confirming that they were
progressing with my complaint within two weeks I would be writing
to you to ask you to raise this matter with the minister concerned,
who is I understand, The Secretary of State for Justice The Rt
Hon Jack Straw MP. I received a pro-forma letter confirming receipt
of my letter and advising me that I would be given a reference
number. Sadly to date no further communication has been received.
I would like to know if the Secretary of State is satisfied that
members of the public who lodge complaints via the ICO are made
to wait for over three months for even an acknowledgement that
their case is being dealt with.
Should the ICO continue to ignore me I intend
to make a FOI request to the ICO to ask for the papers relating
to my complaint. If they do not provide them within the requisite
timeframe I shall lodge a complaint with them about themselves.
I think this would form the basis of a very amusing article in
the national press.
I have sent a copy of this letter to Richard
Thomas the Information Commissioner.
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