Still no Detainee (Torture) Inquiry interim report over a year after submission to Downing Street

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Spy Blog has re-submitted our FOIA Request which was refused over 6 months ago, on the grounds of imminent publication.

Cabinet Office - 6 F Off IA exemptions not to publish Detainee (Torture) Inquiry Interim Report requested back in December 2012..

Whitehall securocrats and politicians are making themselves look unprofessional or inept or corrupt, over the non-publication of the interim report by the Detainee Inquiry, which hardly got going (no witness evidence sessions) before it was abandoned.

How can it take longer to redact and censor what is likely to have been a very bland and content free report, than it actually took to produce in the first place ?

UNCLASSIFIED

Freedom of Information Team
Knowledge and Information Management Unit
Cabinet Office

1 Horse Guards Road
London
SW1A 2HQ

E-mail: foi.team@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk
Telephone: 020 7276 2294
Web: www.cabinet-office.gov.uk


[name]
[email address]


FOI Reference: FOI318159
18 July 2013

Dear [name]

ef: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST

I refer to your request of 14 July 2013 re-submitting your previous request of 9 December 2012 where you asked for a copy of:

"The interim report of the Detainee Inquiry sent to the Prime Minister on 27 June 2012, with any necessary redactions clearly marked and with an explanation of which FOIA Exemptions, if any, are being relied on for each redaction."

As you already know, the Cabinet Office holds the requested information. However, the whole of the interim report remains exempt information for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoIA). Insofar as the requested information is exempt information only by virtue of one or more qualified exemptions, the public interest in maintaining the exemptions outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

For a full explanation of our reasoning in this regard, we refer you to our letter of 8 January 2013, a copy of which is enclosed, for ease of reference. The reasoning set- out in that letter is equally applicable at today's date.

The process of clearing the report for publication has taken longer than envisaged, but it is important for the Government to be able to publish as full an accounting of the Inquiry's work as possible, without compromising national security and consistent with its legal obligations. Discussions with the Inquiry about clearing the report for publication are nearing a conclusion and it is hoped that the Government will be in a position to publish as full a version of their report as possible in the autumn, although no date has been set.

" in the autumn, although no date has been set."

It is now over a year since this report was submitted to the Prime Minister / Cabinet Office.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact the FOI team. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request or wish to request an internal review, you should write to:

Roger Smethurst
Head of Knowledge and Information Management
Cabinet Office
1 Horse Guards Road
London
SW1A 2HQ

email: foi.team@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk

You should note that the Cabinet Office will not normally accept an application for internal review if it is received more than two months after the date that the reply was issued.

If you are not content with the outcome of your internal review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by Cabinet Office. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely

FOI Team
Cabinet Office


It is now over 3 years since Prime Minister David Cameron announced the the setting up of Detainee Inquiry on 6th July 2010

2 Comments

Anonymous briefings to the mainstream press that the truncated Gibson Inquiry interim report may be published next week in mid November 2013

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article3921724.ece

http://www.theguardian.com/law/2013/nov/14/torture-inquiry-gibson-report-intelligence-detainees

This has now been published, for what it is worth

http://www.detaineeinquiry.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/35100_Trafalgar-Text-accessible.pdf

Astonishingly, the promised follow on Judge led Inquiry has been handed to the Intelligence and Security Committee, which failed to uncover any torture allegations or wrongdoing in their previous "investigations".

http://isc.independent.gov.uk/files/20131219_ISC_statement_Detainee_Inquiry.pdf

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  • wtw: This has now been published, for what it is worth read more
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