Seven terrorist plots in the past year - Freedom of Information Request, 17 November 2015

I've sent this request to the Home Office and have already had an acknowledgment:

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Information about seven terrorist plots in the U.K. in the past year  

 





Other news media reported the same facts.

(a) These foiled terrorist plots have been made public by the Prime Minister, the Home Secretary and the Head of MI5, Andrew Parker, in recent months (and quite rightly too) and   
(b) The British public has heightened concern because of the number of terrorist plots referred to (seven) and because of the recent atrocities in Paris.



1. Give the precise dates (or if not known, give the approximate dates) when these seven terrorist attacks were planned to take place.

2. In each case, give the locations where these terrorist attacks were planned to take place.

3. In each case, state how many individuals are known or thought to have been involved in conspiring to commit each terrorist attack.

4. In each case, state how many individuals have been:
A - arrested and questioned andBcharged with a criminal offence (if charged, state what offence they were charged with) and
B - successfully prosecuted ad convicted of terrorist-related offences.

5. Overall, out of the total numbers involved in planning these terrorist offences, please state how many are now either in custody or prison.   

Today:


From: FOI Requests
Home Office

24 November 2015 
   
Mr. Bennett,

Thank you for contacting the Home Office with your request.

This has been assigned to a caseworker (case ref 37614). We will aim to send you a full response by 16/12/2015 which is twenty working days from the date we received your request.

If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you,

P. Zebedee
FOI Requests
Home Office

INTERIM reply from Home Office asking for extra time in which to respond to my request:

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Mr Anthony Bennett

request-303058-ed173e12@whatdotheyknow.com

Date: 16 December 2015

FOI Ref: 37614

Dear Mr Bennett

Thank you for your e-mail of 17th November 2015, in which you ask for the following information in relation to the ‘seven terrorist plots foiled’ announced by the Prime Minister on the 16th November;

The precise dates (or if not known, give the approximate dates) when these seven terrorist attacks were planned to take place;
In each case, give the locations where these terrorist attacks were planned to take place;
In each case, state how many individuals are known or thought to have been involved in conspiring to commit each terrorist attack;
In each case, state how many individuals have been:

 arrested and questioned
 charged with a criminal offence (if charged, state what offence they were charged with)
 successfully prosecuted and convicted of terrorist-related offences

Overall, out of the total numbers involved in planning these terrorist offences, please state how many are now either in custody or prison.

Your request has been handled as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We are considering your request. Although the Act carries a presumption in favour of disclosure, it provides exemptions which may be used to withhold information in specified circumstances. Some of these exemptions, referred to as ‘qualified exemptions’, are subject to a public interest test. This test is used to balance the public interest in confirming or denying whether the information is, or is not held. The Act allows us to exceed the 20 working day response target where we need to consider the public interest test fully.

The information which you have requested is being considered under the exemptions in sections 31(3) and 24(2) of the Act, which relate to law enforcement and national security.

These are qualified exemptions and absolves us from the requirement to say whether or not we hold information, and the public interest falls in favour of neither confirming nor denying.

In order to consider the public interest test fully we need to extend the 20 working day response period. We now aim to let you have a full response by 15 January 2016.

We are neither confirming nor denying whether we hold the information you have requested. Therefore, this response should not be taken as conclusive evidence that the information you have requested is or is not held by the Home Office.

If you have any questions about the handling of your information request then please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely


FOI Team

The Prime Minister warned that while the plots were on a smaller scale than what has been witnessed in Paris, the attacks in the French capital were "the sort of thing we have been preparing for" and that such attacks "could happen in London". Mr Cameron told a press conference at the G20: “Seven is the correct number – obviously I can't go into too much detail. It is seven plots that have been started in the previous months.”

Probably a couple of muslims buying pen knives. Take most of it with a pinch of salt we're all being played like a fiddle with this terroism lark

Non believer wrote:

The Prime Minister warned that while the plots were on a smaller scale than what has been witnessed in Paris, the attacks in the French capital were "the sort of thing we have been preparing for" and that such attacks "could happen in London". Mr Cameron told a press conference at the G20: “Seven is the correct number – obviously I can't go into too much detail. It is seven plots that have been started in the previous months.”

Probably a couple of muslims buying pen knives. Take most of it with a pinch of salt we're all being played like a fiddle with this terroism lark

That's a bit of a trite remark if I may say so from a citizen of UK who is afforded and rightfully expects the protection of security forces.

REPLY FROM THE OFFICE FOR SECURITY AND COUNTER-TERRORISM


Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism 
Tel: 020 7035 4848 
Fax: 020 7035 4745 
2 Marsham Street, London  
www.homeoffice.gov.uk 
SW1P 4DF 
[email]    
Website: www.homeoffice.gov.uk 
 
Mr Anthony Bennett 


[email="[FOI%20#303058 email]"][FOI #303058 email]  [/email] 
 
Date: 14 January 2016 
 
FOI Ref: 37614 
 
Dear Anthony 
 
Thank you for your e-mail of 17th November 2015, in which you ask for the following 
information in relation to the ‘seven terrorist plots foiled’ announced by the Prime Minister 
on the 16th November; 
 
  The precise dates (or if not known, give the approximate dates) when these seven 
terrorist attacks were planned to take place; 
  In each case, give the locations where these terrorist attacks were planned to take 
place; 
  In each case, state how many individuals are known or thought to have been involved 
in conspiring to commit each terrorist attack; 
  In each case, state how many individuals have been: 
  arrested and questioned  
  charged with a criminal offence (if charged, state what offence they 
were charged with)  
  successfully prosecuted and convicted of terrorist-related offences 
  Overall, out of the total numbers involved in planning these terrorist offences, please 
state how many are now either in custody or prison. 
 
Your request has been handled as a request for information under the Freedom of 
Information Act 2000.  
 
The Home Office publishes a quarterly statistical bulletin which contains the numbers of 
charges and convictions in the UK for terrorism offences. The most recent bulletin can be 
found on the Home Office Website at the following link; 
 
 https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/counter-terrorism-statistics 
 
The bulletin does not break the statistics down on a case-by-case basis, but the CPS 
Counter-Terrorism Division publish a list of successful prosecutions on their website, which 
dates back to 2006. They provide details and background on each case up until 2014 and 
the list can be found here; 
 
http://cps.gov.uk/publications/prosecution/ctd.html#a02. 
 
 
 
 

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Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act exempts the Home Office from having to 
provide you with this information, because it is already reasonably accessible to you.  If 
you have any difficulties in accessing this information at the source which I have indicated, 
please contact us again. 
 
We also believe that the exemptions at section 23(1) (information supplied by, or relating 
to, bodies dealing with security matters, and section 24(1) (national security), apply to 
some of the information you have requested.  
 
Furthermore, with regard to the part of your request concerning arrests and charges, we 
neither confirm nor deny whether we hold this information with reliance on the exemption 
at section 31(3). This exempts us from the duty to confirm or deny whether information is 
held if it relates to law enforcement.  
 
Please find further details of these 3 exemptions in the Annex to this letter.  
 
If you are dissatisfied with this response you may request an independent internal review 
of our handling of your request by submitting a complaint within two months to the address 
below, quoting reference 37614. If you ask for an internal review, it would be helpful if you 
could say why you are dissatisfied with the response.  
 
Information Rights Team 
Home Office 
4th Floor,  Peel Building 
2 Marsham Street 
London SW1P 4DF 
e-mail:[Home Office request email]   
 
As part of any internal review the Department's handling of your information request will be 
reassessed by staff who were not involved in providing you with this response. If you 
remain dissatisfied after this internal review, you would have a right of complaint to the 
Information Commissioner as established by section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act.  
 
Yours sincerely 
 
FOI Team 

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Annex 
 
Sections 23(1), 24(1) and 31(3) of the Freedom of Information Act state: [SNIPPED]

I received this note via the 'WhatDoTheyKnow' site today about the refusal of the Home Office to send all the information I asked for:

Stephen Frost left an annotation (30 January 2016)
 
Dear Anthony Bennett, You should take this further, to the Information Commissioner. Your FOIA request was perfectly reasonable, and it is very much in the public interest that your request is answered properly. Best wishes, Stephen Frost