FCG · Security clearance

The standard

Clearance measures how an institution has handled requests for records about Great House Farm (Tŷ Mawr), Llandough: prompt, full, free and straight answers score; delay, partial answers, “not held” with no record, cost and repeat refusals, fees, diversion, contradiction and silence cost points.

Scale

Every institution starts at 500 of 1000 (held between 0 and 1000). The bar is high: from 500, clearance needs a net +400, for example ten on-time, fully disclosed replies with nothing deducted.

Band	Score
Cleared / Ally	900+
Provisional	700+
Under review	500+
Quarantine	below 500

Point rules

Fixed rules. Points move only on a dated email or letter; each change on the ranking shows its date and a link to the message in the case-mail archive and its wayback copy where one exists. No points are given for opinion.

	Rule	Points
✔️	Replied within the statutory period	+20
⚡	Replied within half the statutory period	+10
📂	Full disclosure of what was asked, nothing withheld	+40
🎁	Records released or published without being forced to	+25
🧭	Free, helpful answer on where a record is held	+10
✉️	Substantive written answer where no statutory clock applies	+10
🆓	Fee waived	+5
⏰	Overdue: per working day past the statutory deadline (max −150 per request)	−3 /day
⚠️	Partial: part of what was asked still outstanding after the reply	−15
🗑️	"Not held" with no destruction record and no search described	−40
🔥	Records said to be destroyed, lost or not surviving, with no destruction record produced	−50
💲	Refused on cost (FOIA s.12)	−50
💲	Fee demanded for access (each quote; max −50 per institution)	−10
🔁	Refused as a repeated request (FOIA s.14(2))	−50
🌀	Asked us to clarify something the record had already answered	−10
🚧	Handled under the wrong regime, or the applicable law not accepted	−25
🚧	Reply did not answer the question asked, or diverted it elsewhere	−25
🚧	Dead-end mailbox: automated "no longer supported", no action taken	−15
💣	The body's own statements disagree, not reconciled in writing	−40
📭	Letter or preservation notice with no reply after 20 working days	−30
🔒	Withheld under an exemption or closed to access	−20
☣️	Privacy given as the reason to withhold historic records	−20

Overdue points stop at −150 per request. Fee quotes stop at −50 per institution. A reply draws at most one deduction per rule (39 “not held” answers in one reply count once).

10/10 reply 🫶🤝✌️

On time, within half the statutory period, full disclosure, and nothing deducted on the same request or day.

Statutory clocks

• FOI (FOIA s.10) and EIR (reg. 5(2)): 20 working days.
• FOI internal review: 20 working days (ICO guidance; 40 only in exceptional cases).
• EIR internal review (reg. 11(4)): 40 working days.
• Subject access (UK GDPR art. 12(3)): one calendar month.
• Letters and preservation notices: 20 working days for a reply.
• Working days exclude weekends and bank holidays in England and Wales; day 1 is the first working day after receipt. A fair clarification pauses the clock. Overdue points grow each working day a reply is late.

Method

• Record: the per-institution forensic assessments of 21 Oct 2026, the correspondence register (fee notes) and the clarification ledger. Automated mailbox categories are context only and never scored on their own.
• An item whose date or meaning is uncertain is not scored, or is marked “to confirm”.
• Requests still inside their deadline score nothing until answered or overdue.
• Re-scored every day at midday from new case mail. Data and scorer: clearance.json.

Scores institutions only, from dated correspondence; never individuals. How scores are worked out →