Dear Mr Marshall,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST 52641
Thank you for your email of 02 March 2019 in which you ask for information relating to the
amount of money awarded, or given, to the Tyne & Wear Anti-Fascist Association
(TWAFA) by the Home Office. A copy of this email is at Annex A. Your request has been
handled as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
I can confirm that the Home Office holds the information that you requested.
I can confirm that TWAFA was awarded a value of £5,858.00 following their successful
application to the Building a Stronger Britain Together (BSBT) grant funding round. This
application was made in February 2017 and awarded by the BSBT team, which sits within
the Counter Extremism Unit in the Home Office. To date TWAFA have received £3,643.50
of this fund. In addition, TWAFA were awarded in-kind communications support through
the BSBT programme in July 2017.
You have asked for a breakdown of these awarded funds and for what purposes the fund
was for. I can confirm that we hold this information through our delivery partner UK
Community Foundations who manage the monitoring of grant funding on our behalf. This
monitoring will include agreeing the breakdown of the awarded funding directly with the
group. However, after careful consideration we have decided that this information is
exempt from disclosure under section 43(2) (prejudice to commercial interests) of the
FOIA. This provides that information can be withheld where disclosure would or would be
likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (an individual, a company, the
public authority itself or any other legal entity) and the public interest falls in favour of
maintaining the exemption.
In relation to TWAFA’s in-kind communications support, I can confirm the Home Office
holds the information you requested. However, after careful consideration we have
decided that this information is exempt from disclosure under section 43(2) (prejudice to
commercial interests) of the FOIA. This provides that information can be withheld where
disclosure would or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person
(an individual, a company, the public authority itself or any other legal entity) and the public
interest falls in favour of maintaining the exemption.
Arguments for and against disclosure in terms of the public interest, with the reasons for
our conclusion, are set out in the enclosed Annex B.
You have asked for contact information for the Home Office’s contact in TWAFA. The
Home Office has obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) and in law
generally to protect personal data. We have concluded that the information you have
requested is exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) of the FOIA, because of the
condition at section 40(3)(a). This exempts personal data if disclosure would contravene
any of the data protection principles in Schedule 1 to the DPA. Section 40(2) is an
absolute exemption, which does not require a public interest test
You have asked for communication between the Home Office and TWAFA. I can confirm
that we have communicated with TWAFA regarding their success in securing BSBT
funding. TWAFA also remain on the BSBT network mailing list, which includes all
organisations that have received support from the BSBT programme, and as such receive
monthly newsletters and event invitations. The Home Office has also had face to face and
other verbal communications with TWAFA during visits and events. Our delivery partner
UK Community Foundations have also provided written correspondence to TWAFA
directly in relation to their grant, but we consider these to be outside of the scope of your
request.
You have asked for any training delivered by the Home Office to TWAFA. I can confirm
that we cannot find any information of training delivered directly by the Home Office.
TWAFA did, however, receive training from BSBT’s delivery partner M&C Saatchi. This
included crisis communication, social media, PR and maximising online audience training
sessions.
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
xxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx, quoting reference 52641. If you ask for an internal review,
it would be helpful if you could say why you are dissatisfied with the response.
As part of any internal review the Department's handling of your information request would
be reassessed by staff who were not involved in providing you with this response. If you
were to remain dissatisfied after an internal review, you would have a right of complaint to
the Information Commissioner as established by section 50 of the FOIA.
Yours sincerely
P BROWN
COUNTER EXTREMISM UNIT