FOI Ref: FOI/2022/3977
You asked
Pease publish all letters/emails sent between PASC/PACAC and UKSA/ONS since the passing of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.
We said
Thank you for your request.
The information you have requested is exempt from disclosure under Section 14(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
We understand that in order to fulfil our underlying commitment to transparency and openness, we must allow for a certain level of disruption, particularly where a request has a serious purpose and value to the public.
However, we do not believe that this request has such serious purpose or value. It is very broad and vague, covering a large amount of material. This is reminiscent of a fishing exercise, rather than a directed, purpose-led request for information surrounding, for example, a particular topic.
It could be argued that the requested information would contain valuable information regarding decision-making or key topics of discussion between PASC/PACAC and the UKSA. However, if the intention of this request was to obtain such information, we would expect the request to be more targeted to ensure that the legitimate purpose of understanding our or PACAC's work is fulfilled. Furthermore, there is already established transparency in this area, as formal correspondence between the two parties is actively published on the UK Statistics Authority website and the UK Parliamentary website. Therefore, we do not believe that the potential value of a small subset of the information counterbalances the distinct lack of serious purpose for such a broad request.
Additionally, as the requested information would contain a substantial amount of email correspondence, significant resource would need to be dedicated to personal data redactions. Further resource would also be required to scrutinise the requested information to see if any FOIA exemptions need to be applied. Owing to the scale of the information requested, undertaking this task would place a grossly oppressive burden on our organisation.
On balance therefore, we do not believe the purpose of this request justifies, or is proportionate to, the level of disruption actioning this request would cause.
If you would like to request information on a particular topic of discussion, or decision made, this should be included in any future Freedom of Information request.