11th January 2012 Case Reference Numbers FS50426636/FS50426637/FS50426648 Dear Mr Pope Complaints from Mr Martin McGartland The Information

Commissioner has received three complaints from Mr McGartland stating that they have not received a decision regarding the internal reviews they requested. The case reference numbers, your references and the dates on which the requests for review were made are detailed below. ICO case reference number: FS50426636 PPSNI reference number: FOI 76432 - FOI 11/190 & 11/191 Date of request for review: 31/08/11 ICO case reference number: FS50426637 PPSNI reference number: FOI 11/058 & 11/059 Date of request for review: 11/05/11 ICO case reference number: FS50426648 PPSNI reference number: FOI 54813 - FOI 10/296 Date of request for review: 14/02/11 Guidance The Commissioner has issued guidance regarding the time limits on carrying out internal reviews (Good Practice Guidance 5). The Commissioner considers that a reasonable time for completing an internal review is 20 working days from the date of the request for review, and in no case should the total time taken exceed 40 working days. A full copy of this guidance is available on our website (www.ico.gov.uk) under the Freedom of Information guidance section, or using the following link: Good Practice Guidance 5: Time limits on carrying out internal reviews Enforcement The Commissioner wants to ensure that a complainant has exhausted a public authoritys internal review procedure, but at the same time the complainant should not be unreasonably delayed in having his complaint considered under section 50.

Internal reviews are referred to in the section 45 Code of Practice, and significant or repeated unreasonable delays in dealing with internal reviews will be monitored by the Enforcement team. In some instances regulatory action may be necessary. More details about the Commissioners FOI Regulatory Action Policy are available on our website using the following links: http://www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/promoting_openness/taking_actio n.aspx Actions If it is the case that you have not issued an internal review decision to Mr McGartland we recommend that you do so within 20 working days from the date of receipt of this letter. If you have, in fact, already responded to Mr McGartland, and believe that your response should already have been received we would recommend you contact them to confirm receipt if you have not already done so. If you need to contact us about this complaint please quote the reference number at the top of this letter. Yours sincerely

Jim Dunn Case Officer Information Commissioners Office