Westmorland and Furness Council: £4.74m Migration Funding and Home Office Data-Sharing Agreement

Dear Freedom of Information Team,

Internal review request — FOI-216563-2026 (response dated 17 August 2026)

Please treat this as a request for an internal review of your response to FOI-216563-2026. I am content with the funding and third-party payment spreadsheets, but I ask you to review the following points.

1. Settlement-level accommodation information. My request asked for each town, village or city with asylum accommodation, together with accommodation type, capacity and occupancy. Your response redirected me to national statistics, which do not answer the question at settlement level. Please review whether the council holds this information and disclose it, or explain clearly which parts are not held.

2. Blanket withholding of contractor payments under Section 43(2). Please review whether a blanket exemption was appropriate for all contractor payments, including historic ones.

3. Partial disclosure. There is no indication that partial disclosure — for example aggregate totals, older payments, or contractor names without values — was considered. Please review this.

4. Explanation of commercial prejudice. The response does not explain how disclosure of past payments would prejudice the named upcoming procurement exercise, or how the public interest balance was struck. Please provide the reasoning.

5. Advice and assistance on service costs (Section 12). Your response states that meaningful refinement did not appear possible. Under Section 16 please advise what narrower request could be answered within the cost limit — for example a single department, a single financial year, or a single cost heading.

6. Status and completeness of the disclosed memorandum of understanding. Please confirm whether the copy disclosed is the current, complete and executed version.

7. Missing Home Office signature. The disclosed copy contains no visible Home Office name, signature or signature date. Please confirm whether a signed Home Office counterpart exists and disclose it.

8. Conflicting review dates. The document gives a review date of 24 January 2026 in one section and a requirement to review before 23 December 2025 in another. Please clarify which applies and whether a review took place.

9. Conflicting move-on periods. One section refers to a 56-day grace period and another to 28 days of continuing support after a grant of status. Please clarify which applies in practice.

10. Incorrect references in the document. The agreement links to wirral.gov.uk and describes the local authority as "the CCG". Please clarify whether a corrected version exists and disclose it.

11. Missing review history. The version and review-history table is blank. Please disclose any version history or review records held.

12. Data Protection Impact Assessment. The agreement states that a Home Office DPIA has been completed and is available on request. Please provide it, or explain who holds it and how it can be obtained.

I would be grateful for your review within 20 working days. I understand that I may complain to the Information Commissioner's Office if I remain dissatisfied.

Yours faithfully,