Freedom of Information request on the contract register (FOI 22/632)
Published 27 March 2023
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/freedom-of-information-responses-from-the-mhra-week-commencing-9-may-2022/freedom-of-information-request-on-the-contract-register-foi-22632
FOI 22/632
9th May 2022
Dear
Thank you for your information request, dated 22 April, where you asked questions in relation to the Contract Register.
I can confirm that the MHRA does hold some of the information that you have requested. However, we have also determined that the information is exempt under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act and we cannot process your request any further.
Section 12 of the Act allows public authorities to refuse requests where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for central government is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 24 working hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.
In order to process your request, we would need to: spend considerable time manually retrieving information for our e-sourcing and finances systems and compiling and adding this information to the contracts register. We consider that this would take longer than 24 working hours to complete.
We advise that you narrow your request by, for example, focusing on high level information that is readily available for all contracts and doesn’t require manual retrieval from our e-sourcing and financial systems (e.g. contract descriptions and CPV codes) whilst reviewing contract information that is in the public domain by virtue of it being published on Contracts Finder.
Please note that substantially similar requests made within 60 working days of an original request can be aggregated into one for the purposes of calculating a cost limit, meaning that section 12 could still apply.
If you disagree with how we have interpreted the Freedom of Information Act 2000 with regards to your request, you can ask for the decision to be reviewed. The review would be carried out by a senior member of the Agency who was not involved with the original decision.
If you have a query about the information provided, please reply to this email.
If you are unhappy with our decision, you may ask for it to be reviewed. That review will be undertaken by a senior member of the Agency who has not previously been involved in your request. If you wish to pursue that option please email: info@mhra.gov.uk
After that, if you remain dissatisfied, you may write to the Information Commissioner at;
The Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
They will make a decision on whether or not we have interpreted the FOIA correctly in handling your request.
Yours sincerely
MHRA Customer Experience Centre