FoI:Funding of plainpacksprotect.co.uk

Background

plainpacksprotect.co.uk is a website that encourages the UK public to lobby the government for plain packaging while a public consultation is ongoing.

As the initial email demonstrates, plainpacksprotect.co.uk is the brainchild of Smokefree South West (SFSW), an organisation funded by 14 PCTs in the south west of England.

This is a clear example of government lobbying itself. Tax is used to pay for the PCTs, who then give money to SFSW who then spend it via numerous sources

Initial email to SFSW querying who fields FoI requests since, at the time, they weren't listed at WhatDoTheyKnow:

From: PJH <xxx@xxx>
To: info@smokefreesouthwest.org.uk
Date: Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:03:12 +0000
Subject: Freedom of information.

Sir,

Could you tell me the email address of the person responsible for Freedom
of Information requests (FoI) for Smokefree South West please?

Thankyou in advance

Paul Herring.

Initial reply:

From: "Reynolds Toby" <xxx@smokefreesouthwest.org.uk>
To: "PJH" <xxx@xxx>
Date: Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:23:35 -0000
Subject: RE: Freedom of information.

Dear Mr Herring

Thank you for your enquiry.  I've been told that you will be able to
lodge a Freedom of Information request using the
info@smokefreesouthwest.org.uk email address. This will then get sent on
to the person responsible for dealing with the request who will respond
in due course.

If you have any other queries, please get in touch.

Kind regards

Toby Reynolds
Admin Officer
Smokefree South West
2nd Floor Grosvenor House
149 Whiteladies Road
Bristol
BS8 2RA
0117 970 7022

My initial FoI request:

From: PJH <xxx@xxx>
To: Reynolds Toby <xxx@smokefreesouthwest.org.uk>
Date: Wed, 29 Feb 2012 11:07:22 +0000
Subject: FoI request: plainpacksprotect.co.uk

Mr Reynolds,

Thank you for your reply.

According to your website[1], you appear to be funded solely by 14 PCT's in
the south west of England, hence my FoI request, since they themselves are
public bodies.

According to a whois of plainpacksprotect.co.uk[2] (and as a result [3],)
you also appear to own the aforementioned site.

Could you tell me how much it has/is/will cost to maintain the
plainpacksprotect.co.uk website and supporting materials, and where
possible, the names of the companies being paid.

Please include (this list is not intended to be exhaustive):
1) The cost of designing the website to start with
2) Any ongoing costs to maintain the website, e.g. hosting fees, updating
the site, dealing with queries from the site
3) Any and all supporting advertising promoting the website, for example
roadside hoardings[4], newspaper advertisements, leaflets etc.
4) Past, current and expected future/planned costs.

If you feel you are not the authority who should be answering these
questions, I'd appreciate it if you could both point me to who I should be
asking, and forward this request onto them.

Yours faithfully,

Paul Herring.

[1] http://www.smokefreesouthwest.org.uk/what-we-do/about-us.html
[2] http://who.is/whois/plainpacksprotect.co.uk/
[3] http://www.linkedin.com/pub/steve-fairman/43/abb/168
[4]
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pkL-DF-rF7Q/T00f_RS_yfI/AAAAAAAABtY/W7nUd0BMQ-M/s400/PPhoarding.jpg

Reply from Bristol NHS acknowledging the request

From: "Tucker Kathryn" <xxx@bristol.nhs.uk>
To: <xxx@xxx>
Date: Wed, 29 Feb 2012 11:30:53 -0000
Subject: FOI 1112 400 FoI request: plainpacksprotect.co.uk
Dear Mr Herring

Smoke Free South West is hosted by NHS Bristol, we therefore manage
their Freedom of Information process. Please accept this as
acknowledgment of your Freedom of Information request. This has been
given reference number FOI 1112 400 please use this in all future
correspondence.

We will respond to your request by 27th March 2012

If following review of your request we require any further clarification
we will contact you as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely



Kat Tucker
Complaints & FOI Manager
NHS Bristol
0117 900 2494

From 1 June 2011, NHS Bristol, NHS North Somerset and NHS South
Gloucestershire have formed a primary care trust cluster. Each
organisation continues to be a legal body.

If you are providing any personal and/or confidential information to NHS
Bristol via email, please note that we are only responsible for the
information held within our network and cannot guarantee its security
until it reaches us. If you wish to provide this information in another
form please contact me to arrange.

Recipients should be aware that all e-mails received and sent by this
organisation are subject to the Freedom of Information Act (2000) and
therefore may be disclosed to a third party. You should also be aware
that the information contained in this message, or any of its
attachments, may be privileged and confidential and intended for the
exclusive use of the addressee. The views expressed in this e-mail may
not be the official policy of this organisation but the personal view of
the originator. If you are not the addressee, you must not read, copy,
disclose, forward or otherwise use the information contained within this
e-mail. If you receive this e-mail in error, please notify the sender
(whose contact details are above) immediately by reply e-mail and delete
the message and any attachments without retaining any copies. All
messages sent by this organisation are checked for viruses but this does
not, and cannot, guarantee that a virus has not been transmitted. Please
ensure that you take your own precautions for the detection and
eradication of viruses.

Received 28th March

One day late, along with an attached pdf: Media:FOI_1112_400_response_28.03.12.pdf

Dear Mr Herring

Please find our response to your freedom of information request attached to this
email. I trust this is satisfactory, but if you feel that it is not then please
do not hesitate to contact us again and we will endeavour to assist you further.

Please note that if you are unhappy with the way in which your request has been
administered, you have the right to request a review.

You also have the right to appeal any response with the Information Commissioner
for Freedom of Information, as stated under the Freedom of Information Act.
Information regarding this is available on their website www.ico.gov.uk .

‘If you wish to re-use the information you have requested, in whole or in part,
please write to me stating the purpose(s) you wish to re-use the information
for.  We will respond within 20 working days of receiving your request with any
conditions or charges that relate to the re-use of the information.  These will
be determined in line with the ‘Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations
2005 (SI 2005 No. 1515).’

Yours sincerely

Kat Tucker

Complaints & FOI Manager

NHS Bristol

0117 900 2494

This also makes reference to another FoI request made by someone else: Media:FOI_1112_394_response_13.03.12.pdf‎

Summary of costs

FOI 1112 394 [1]

Description	Cost
Allocated to plain packaging for 2011/12	£468,462.06
Billboards	£100,398
Digital advertising (including website design)	£127,685.77
Community events (including staff payments)	£99,146.00
Other social marketing avenues not thus-far mentioned	£141,232.29

FOI 1112 400

Description	Cost
Website design	£10,100
Ongoing website costs	£250 per month for 6 months