One of our readers has sent us in the following reply from the FOI Office regarding perfectly legitimate questions:
We refer to your request where you asked:
“1.about all correspondence with Boris Johnson and Bill Gates or Bill and Melinda
foundation on subject of Pandemic preparedness from between 2018 to 2022
2. with all covid-19 discussions and other the was they any meeting with
Bill Gates and Boris Johnson3. also was the any discussions with Gates Gavi and Cepi with Boris Johnson
Please could you answerSection 14(1) of the Freedom of Information Act (the Act) says that a public authority is
not obliged to comply with a request for information if the request is vexatious.
After careful consideration we have concluded that your request is vexatious and we
are therefore refusing it under section 14(1) of the Act. In reaching this decision we
have worked through the Information Commissioner’s guidance on vexatious requests
which provides examples of a number of indicators of a request for information which
could be considered vexatious for the purpose of section 14(1) of the Act. The
Information Commissioner’s guidance is available at:
https://ico.org.uk/media/1198/dealing-with-vexatious-requests.pdfOne such indicator is the ‘scattergun’ approach which relates to requests that appear ‘to
be part of a completely random approach, lacks any clear focus, or seems to have been
solely designed for the purpose of ‘fishing’ for information without any idea of what
might be revealed.’ The Commissioner continues at paragraph 81 that such requests
are so called because the requester ‘casts their net widely in the hope that this will
catch information that is noteworthy or otherwise useful to them.’
We consider that your request could fairly be described as ‘scattergun’ in nature. You
have asked for 1. “all correspondence” between Boris Johnson and Bill Gates or
the Bill and Melinda Foundation covering a lengthy time period 2. “all covid-19
discussions” & “any meeting” with Boris Johnson and Bill Gates and 3. “any
discussions” between Boris Johnson and Gates Gavi and Cepi. If we were to
comply with your request for information, it would impose a burden on the Cabinet
Office by requiring its employees to search through a substantial volume of information.
Any information will be of an inconsequential character and only encompassed within
the request because of its widely termed nature. We consider there to be very little or
next to no inherent public interest being pursued in these requests that would warrant
the level of resource required to respond to your request.
Furthermore, at paragraph 91 of the Information Commissioner’s guidance, it states: ‘If
a public authority has reason to believe that several different requesters are acting in
concert as part of a campaign to disrupt the organisation by virtue of the sheer weight of
FOIA requests being submitted, then it may take this into account when determining
whether any of those requests are vexatious.’
The Commissioner’s guidance continues at paragraph 91 that requests could be
considered as forming a ‘campaign’ if they fulfil any of the below examples:
● ‘The requests are identical or similar.
● They have received email correspondence in which other requesters have been
copied in or mentioned.
● There is an unusual pattern of requests, for example a large number have been
submitted within a relatively short space of time.
● A group’s website makes an explicit reference to a campaign against the
authority.’
Since late December 2021 the Cabinet Office, including the Prime Minister’s Office, has
received a high volume of identical and similar requests concerning communications
with Bill Gates and the Bill and Melinda Foundation. Due to the nature and
unprecedented volume of the requests, we consider that they form a ‘campaign’ as defined by the Information Commissioner above. We have determined that your request
is one of many such requests.
Taking into account all the circumstances of this case we are not obliged to comply with
your request under section 14(1) of the Act.
Is it fair to call these reasonable questions ‘scattergun’ and ‘vexatious’ or is it perhaps they just don’t want the truth getting out?
Lead Correspondent | David Clews is the Lead Correspondent for UNN, with over 20 years of political/campaigning experience and a wealth of social media and communication skills David gets to the heart of what is really important to the real people of the UK.
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