1 - The Black Vault

•
From;
DAS 4a(Sec)
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
Room 8245, Main Building, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2HB
....
Telephone (Direct dial) 0171 218 2140
(Switchboard) 0171 218 9000
(Fax)
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Dr David Clarke
Your Reference
Our Reference
DIDAS(Sec)/64/3
Date
29 September 2000
Dear Dr Clarke,
Thank you tor your letter of 4 September in which you further refined your request for
information addressing your letter to the Secretariat (Air Stafl). I should explain the Secretariat
has now merged with Directorate Air Staff and, as a result, Secretariat (Air Staff)2 is now titled
DAS 4(Sec), as appears in the heading to this letter.
In her letter of 23 August,~entioned she hoped to be able to give you a progress report
by the end of September and so I am writing to you at this time. I am pleased to say that we have
identified most of the files mentioned in the major queries raised in your letter. I think you wi!J
understand the reference in your fourth question to "additional policy files 1968-81" might
encompass a considerable body of papers and that has indeed turned out to be the case.
l am at present speaking with Defence Records in order to identify material that may be made
available to you within the Department's reasonable resources, for which there may be a charge.
The Ministry of Defence is bound by the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
This means that we are committed to providing you with the information you require, as long as it
is not exempted under the Code. However, to ensure this does not create an extra burden on the
taxpayer, we have a changing regime for more complicated requests. If a request is likely to
require over four hours' work, each hour's work over four hours (or part thereof) is charged at
£15.00 per hour. I shall estimate the charge, if one is likely, when I next write to you.
Yours sincerely,