The 19 Month FoI

I believe the phrase "like getting blood from a stone" springs to mind on this one.

• 23 January 2009 - FoI request sent to Cabinet Office for "a copy of Tony Blair's response to Sir Callum McCarthy's letter dated 31 May 2005 along with any documents relating to that response."
• 23 January 2009 - Cabinet Office auto-respond acknowledging receipt of FoI request.
• 20 February 2009 - Cabinet Office request extension as they wish to balance public interest against UK economic interests.
• 24 March 2009 - Cabinet Office request further extension on the same grounds and say they will respond by 28 April 2009.
• 28 April 2009 - Cabinet Office request further extension on the same grounds and say they will respond by 26 May 2009.
• 22 May 2009 - Cabinet Office request further extension on the same grounds and say they will respond by 23 June 2009.
• 22 June 2009 - Cabinet Office request further extension on the same grounds and say they will respond by 20 July 2009.
• 12 August 2009 - Requester asks why 201 days have passed and why it is taking so long to decide on whether to release information.
• 22 March 2010 - Requester asks why he has received no correspondence for 7 months and request an internal review.
• 29 March 2010 - Cabinet Office acknowledges request for internal review.
• 14 June 2010 - Requester draw Cabinet Office attention to ICO best practice on time to answer an FoI.
• 17 August 2010 - Cabinet Office responds to internal review saying how sorry they are and that they'll have made a decision on whether to release the information very soon.
• 17 August 2010 - Requester responds to Cabinet Office arguing that the response is insufficient.
• 17 August 2010 - Cabinet Office responds and releases benign letter from Blair about regulation.

And to think politicians wonder why the public don't trust them huh? Methinks an FoI on why it took so long might be needed.