I'm Still Waiting!!!

Some of you may recall that when Hazel Blears was appointed as both Chair of the Labour Party and Minister without portfolio I posed a question on this blog about her perks and allowances as a Minister with no job, because the possibility exists that she has been given the Ministerial post, so that she can receive all the perks of a Minister, whilst carrying out a job for the Labour Party and not the people of Britain.

After that post, I submitted a Freedom of Information request which the Cabinet Office confirmed was received on 15 May 2006. That request asked for 3 things:

"A full description of the role which Hazel Blears has as a Cabinet Member, rather than as Chairman of the Labour Party.

A summary of the allowances and benefits she receives as a Cabinet Minister, including Salary, Cars, properties etc.

A summary of the activities she has undertaken as a Cabinet Minister since her appointment"

The 20 working days they have to respond expired today. This suggests that the Cabinet Office are either unwilling to respond or they have organisational problems. The text of their response to my request is as follows:

"Dear Mr Curtis,

Thank you for you request for information. Your request
was received on
15/05/2006 and it is being dealt with under the terms of the
Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

In some circumstances a fee may be
payable and if that is the case, I
will let you know the likely charges
before proceeding.

If you have any queries about this letter, please
contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any
future communications

Yours sincerely

Name Deleted
MST Private Office Group
70 Whitehall London
SW1A 2AS"