Dear Mr Timbrell,
Freedom of Information Request F16-449
Thank you for your request for information as copied below. In relation to
your petition entitled “We require Parliament to debate Lord Kilmuir's
letter to Edward Heath”, you indicated that you were still awaiting the
Government response to your submission. You have now made a request to the
House of Commons for “a copy of anything written”, relating to this
petition.
As it is the responsibility of the Government, not Parliament, to provide
responses to e-petitions, we have interpreted your query as a request for
correspondence between the staff of the Petitions Committee of the House
of Commons and the Government about the response to this petition.
The House of Commons holds correspondence relating to your request.
However, this information is exempt from disclosure under section 34
(parliamentary privilege) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The
application of this exemption is required for the purpose of avoiding a
breach of the privileges of the House of Commons because any such
information would relate to the unpublished proceedings of a Select
Committee, and one of the privileges of the House is the right of select
committees to decide whether, when or how to publish material it has
received. This is an absolute exemption and the public interest test does
not apply.
It may help you to know that the Government’s Department for Exiting the
European Union is responsible for responding to your petition. You may
wish to contact them to enquire about this matter directly. Their contact
details are available here:
[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati....
You may, if dissatisfied with the handling of your request, complain to
the House of Commons. Alternatively, if you are dissatisfied with the
outcome of your request you may ask the House of Commons to conduct an
internal review of any decision regarding your request. Complaints or
requests for internal review should be addressed to: Information Rights
and Information Security Service, Research & Information Team, House of
Commons, London SW1A 0AA or [2][House of Commons request email]. Please ensure
that you specify the full reasons for your complaint or internal review
along with any arguments or points that you wish to make.
If you remain dissatisfied, you may appeal to the Information Commissioner
at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF,
[3]www.ico.gov.uk.
Yours sincerely,
Information Rights Manager
Information Rights and Information Security (IRIS) Service | House of
Commons
[4]cid:
[email protected]Click [5]here for information about FOI in the House of Commons,
or to see what we publish.
