Visitors from Reading West
Your MP says that you must be protected from this site.
Do not read any further - he knows where you live.

Freedom of Information Request No. 1

Timeline

• 20 April 2007
• 25 May 2007
• 30 May 2007
• 30/31 May 2007
• 27 Jun 2007
• 28 Jun 2007
• 16 Jul 2007

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Background

20 April 2007

Martin Salter MP addressed the House of Commons asking for MPs correspondence to be excluded from the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. To support his stance he presented, to the Tory MP proposing the change, a letter from a constituent which he claimed had been made available under the Freedom of Information Act.

Mr. Salter defended his insistence that such protection was needed in his column in the Reading Chronicle. It was subsequently pointed out to Mr. Salter that the release of such a letter was in breach of the Data Protection Act and therefore no amendment to the Freedom of Information Act was necessary to prevent future similar disclosures.

The question then remained. Why was the Honourable member for Reading West so keen to protect his correspondence?

An anonymous emailer suggested that it was because he wanted correspondence between his office and Reading Borough Council officials to be protected. However, Mr. Salter can be very litigious, as Rob Wilson found out to the cost of £60,000, so before suggesting anything of the sort a request was made to Reading Borough Council to try to confirm or refute these claims.