Request
Please provide me with copies of all correspondence held relating to attempts by the National Archives to secure the ‘no money left’ note. By that, I mean the note that Liam Byrne, the outgoing Chief Secretary to the Treasury left for his successor in May 2010 which included the following statement: “I’m afraid there is no money”.
Outcome
Some information provided.
Response
I can confirm that The National Archives holds information relevant to your request, and we are pleased to be able to provide some this information to you.
We are unable to provide you with some of the information you have requested because it is covered by the exemption at section 40(2) of the FOI Act, which exempts information if it is personal information about a ‘third party’ (someone other than the requester). For further information about why this exemption has been applied, please see the explanatory annex at the end of the page.
Please find below information relating to the ‘No money left’ note.
Correspondence with Treasury June – August 2013.pdf
Latest on Treasury note 22.07.2013.pdf
Correspondence with Treasury June – August 2014.pdf
Correspondence with Treasury July – August 2014.pdf
Correspondence with Treasury August 2014.pdf
Email chain from Media Team to CEO’s Office 04.10.2016.pdf
Pre-meet notes October 2016.pdf
Explanatory annexe
Exemptions applied
Section 40(2): Personal Information where the applicant is not the data subject
Section 40 exempts personal information about a ‘third party’ (someone other than the requester), if revealing it would breach the terms of Data Protection Legislation. Data Protection Legislation prevents personal information from release if it would be unfair or at odds with the reason why it was collected, or where the subject had officially served notice that releasing it would cause them damage or distress. Personal information must be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner as set out by Art. 5 of the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).
In this case the exemption applies because the requested material contains information which would identify junior members of staff. Publishing the names and contact details of junior members of staff is considered an unfair use of personal data. Junior members of staff would have no expectation that information about their positions would be made available in the public domain; to do so would be unfair and contravene the first data protection principle of the Data Protection Act. As such, the names, positions and contact details of junior officials are withheld under section 40 (2) of the FOI Act.
Further guidance about the publication of junior staff names can be found here:
https://ico.org.uk/media/fororganisations/documents/1187/section_40_requests_for_personal_data_about_employees.pdf