We have been contacted by a BNTVA member this afternoon, who has recently been classed as a vexatious correspondent by the Ministry of Defence. He has requested further information concerning the "vexatious" term, and has received the following reply from the MOD relating to their security review of the nation's nuclear-related archive material.

"Thank you for your email of 16 January regarding the use of Section 14 (Vexatious) of the Freedom of Information Act (the Act) to respond to requests related to British nuclear tests. The Defence Nuclear Organisation has been asked to respond as the area of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) responsible for some of the information related to the UK’s historic atmospheric nuclear test programme.

You have questioned the MOD’s use of the description ‘vexatious’ when responding to requests for

information related to British nuclear tests and whether the Department’s position is being reviewed.

We would firstly like to explain that the description ‘vexatious’ is the wording used in Section 14(1)

of the Act and is therefore used in responses where that section of the Act is applied. Section 14(1)

is designed to allow public authorities to refuse any requests which would cause a disproportionate

or unjustified level of disruption, irritation or distress. We can assure you requests under the Act

are always considered on a case by case basis and there is no MOD policy to apply Section 14(1)

to all cases related to British nuclear tests.

Whilst it is not clear to us which particular requests you feel have been incorrectly deemed

vexatious, it may be that the requests you are referring to received a ‘vexatious’ response because

processing these requests fully would impose a disproportionate burden on the MOD due to the

impact on an ongoing wider security review that is underway.

The MOD is currently conducting a review of historic files relating to the United Kingdom’s Nuclear

Weapons programme that are held in The National Archives (TNA). While this activity is ongoing, a

number of the files held at TNA have been withdrawn from general access until that assessment is

complete. The MOD has subsequently received an unprecedented number of requests under the

Act for the material that is under review, placing disproportionate burden on the Department given

the public interest in the completion of the review. Therefore, these requests have been considered

against the burden criteria under Section 14(1) of the Act. The application of Section 14(1) of the

Act in these particular circumstances remains under continuous assessment and evaluation by

MOD during the file review process, to evaluate the impact of examining the contents of the

withdrawn files which have been requested and the level of burden placed upon the Department.

Further information relating to the ongoing security review and the current assessment process,

can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-nuclear-archive-records.

We hope this helps to clarify the situation.

Yours sincerely,

Defence Nuclear Organisation Secretariat"

Click here for more information concerning section 14(1) CN9: Vexatious & repeated requests - Initial handling of requests for information (publishing.service.gov.uk)