Friday
Jun112010
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill Lord's letterhead revisited
Jun 11, 2010 Climate: Oxburgh I'm reliably informed that the letterhead in the Oxburgh letter is genuine. I'm also informed that its use in chairing the review panel would not count as non-House-of-Lord activity. This seems rather odd to me, but I stand corrected.
Reader Comments (10)
Hmm. If it a House of Lords activity (working out the double negative) then is it open to FOI requests? If not, why not?
time to pull the plug on these sophisticates
So if this is an official House of Lords activity then all the documents and notes taken relating to the UEA-CRU investigation under the chair of Lord Oxburgh are open to legitimate FOIA requests.
"Is that a shredder I see before me?"
Keep up, Mac. The noble lord has already made it clear that the documents do not exist, so either they did the whole thing without taking a single note or his lordship had them shredded a long time ago. Perhaps if Lord Oxburgh's friends are reading this, they could enlighten us as to which is the case.
Maybe we should start a rumor that Lord O is having an affair with Lisa Williams? And in any case, I agree that it looks more like a Nigerian scam than the real thing.
DS
There will be all sorts of documentation, emails, letters, notes concerning Lord Oxburgh's participation in this UEA-CRU investigation. As the good lord was acting under the auspicous of the House of Lords, that letterhead, then that documentation will be subject to FOIA requests.
Just as important as what Lord Oxburgh did - is what he didn't do.
Mac
If you are right, then the only conclusion left is that Lord O was lying in his response to Steve McIntyre.
Don Pablo
Perhaps Lisa can make contact with the "other side" and find out where all the papers have gone.
David S
Perhaps Lisa can make contact with the "other side" and find out where all the papers have gone.
Where are the "Russian Hackers" now that we need them to bust into UEA computers and steal emails? Might make really interesting reading. They could sell them to the Daily Mirror for a nice packet, they could. Perhaps "Harry" will spill the beans again. :)
I think is obvious that they expected the FOI requests from the beginning and all participants were instructed to keep no written or electronic records.
Mac: "There will be all sorts of documentation, emails, letters, notes concerning Lord Oxburgh's participation in this UEA-CRU investigation. As the good lord was acting under the auspicous of the House of Lords, that letterhead, then that documentation will be subject to FOIA requests."
No - I think the HOL has made it clear (in a reply to a FOI request by Steve McIntyre) that members of the HOL are not subject to the FOI act:
(...) However, the provisions of the Act and the Regulations only apply to recorded information held by the House of Lords administration. For the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act and the Environmental Information Regulations, members are regarded as separate entities from the “House of Lords”. Accordingly members of the House of Lords are not themselves public authorities under the Act or Regulations. The provisions of the Act and Regulations will therefore not apply to information held only by an individual member e.g. their private correspondence or to correspondence they may have received.(...)