Request
My request relates to the MoD Personnel Records Team. Can you please advise for each year (either calendar or financial) : 1. The whole time equivalent of staff employed on the team. 2. The total number of requests received broken down into categories if appropriate. The total number of requests outstanding at the end of each year broken down into categories if appropriate.
The following clarification was provided regarding your request:
I would like the data for years 2010 onwards. I would like the total only and not broken down into any categories.
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 of 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 21 of the FOI Act, which exempts information if it is already reasonably accessible by other means. For further information about why this exemption has been applied, please see the explanatory annex at the end of this letter.
Please see this link to a diagram outlining the team structure of full-time staff employed in the MoD Service Personnel Records Team as of 17/07/2024. The diagram shows posts created in the years 2021, 2022 and 2023. All of the posts created during these years remain in place at the time of your request, and no new posts have been established in 2024 at the time of your request. The MoD Service Personnel Records Team was initially set up in 2021 as that was when the Ministry of Defence service records project started. Therefore, no information is held before 2021.
With regards to the second part of your request, part of the answer is exempt under section 21 of the FOI Act. This is because part of this information has already been published by The National Archives and is readily accessible. The number of requests received by the MoD Personnel Records team per year can be located at: FOI performance – Freedom of Information (nationalarchives.gov.uk). Whilst not published on the website, the number of requests received in 2021 was 38.
Furthermore, The National Archives does not record information on the total number of requests outstanding at the end of each year.
Exemptions applied
Section 21: Information readily available to the applicant by other means
Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) does not oblige a public authority to provide information if it is already reasonably accessible by other means.
In this case the exemption applies because the information is already available at FOI performance – Freedom of Information (nationalarchives.gov.uk)
Further guidance on the application of this exemption can be found at: https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1203/information-reasonably-accessible-to-the-applicant-by-other-means-sec21.pdf