DOCUMENT ATTRIBUTES SECTION: DO NOT MODIFY TEXT BELOW

Application: WORD97

ProtectiveMarking:

Descriptor:

Caveat:

CoveringPM:

CovDescriptor:

CovCaveat:

Subject:

DocumentStyle:

Draft:

FolderReference:

CreatedBy:

RegisteredOn:

RegisteredBy:

DocumentDate:

SysDocumentDate:

FromInd:

FromOrg:

ToInd:

ToOrg:

AdditionalText:

Finalised:

OfficialRecord:

DocumentStatus:

FolderReferenceType:

DOCUMENT ATTRIBUTES SECTION: DO NOT MODIFY TEXT ABOVE

STARTDOCUMENT:

2

7 August 2009

South Asia Group

Room WH2.75

King Charles Street

London SW1A 2AH

Tel: 020 7008 2376

Fax: 020 7008 3258

E-mail:

Mr Galstaun

Sent by email to:

Dear Mr Galstaun

Subject: Freedom Of Information Request: Ref: 0526-09

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request of 7 July for information under the Freedom of Information Act which I received on that date. In that request you asked for information regarding cemeteries in India that may have been previously owned or managed by the UK Government and may have been handed over to various local Trusts or other bodies in India after Indian independence.

You should be aware that information relating to your request prior to 1979 is already held at The National Archive (TNA). I would recommend that in the first instance, you carry out a search on the TNA catalogue accessible via the TNA website at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk. This may satisfy your request under the terms of the FoI Act.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office only holds records since 1979. Before we conduct a search, I should be grateful if you could confirm whether The National Archive holds some or all of the information you require. If you do require further information from us, I should be grateful if you could narrow or more closely define your request. Otherwise, under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act, the cost of compliance with your request may exceed the appropriate limit (currently £600).

Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act makes provisions for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit. The limit has been specified in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. For central government the appropriate limit is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one or more persons spending 3 ½ days working days in determining whether the Department holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting it. Your request as presently formulated is widely-framed and I estimate that it will take more than 3 ½ working days to locate, retrieve and extract this information. In these circumstances we are not obliged under the Act to comply with your request. You may therefore wish to refine your request to narrow its scope to bring it within the appropriate limit.

In order for your request to fall within the appropriate limit we would recommend you narrow your request down by which you would like us to pursuit further. However, you should be aware that this does not guarantee an automatic release, as all information must be assessed in detail. Any reformulated request will be treated as a fresh request under the Act.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint or request an internal review, you should write to me FOI - Information Rights Management Team. Please note any request for an internal review must be submitted within 40 working days from the date our response was issued.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

The Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Your sincerely

Doyin Adele

South Asia Group

2