DCMS internal review IR2026/06711: nil return upheld

5. Correspondence concerning the identification, recovery, ownership or location of such 
items.​
​
6. Internal reports, legal advice and memoranda relating to Great House Farm furniture or 
household effects.​
​
7. Correspondence mentioning the Requester or Williams families in connection with these 
items.​
​
8. Records concerning any efforts by Cardiff Council or Cardiff Castle to trace, recover or 
secure items believed to have originated from Great House Farm.​
​
9. Correspondence with the Bute Estate, museums, the Department for Culture, Media and 
Sport, the Reviewing ​
​
10. Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA), Arts 
Council England or any other public authority regarding objects from Great House Farm. 
 
 
[redacted]

 
The department responded on 22 July (our reference FOI2026/06174). You have now requested an 
internal review, as follows: 
 
Thank you for your response dated 22 July 2026 to my request (FOI2026/06174).​
​
I am surprised by the conclusion that the Department holds no information whatsoever within 
the scope of my request. Given the breadth of the Department's responsibilities for heritage, 
museums, cultural property, public bodies and associated policy, I respectfully request an 
internal review of the searches undertaken.​
​
In particular, I ask that the review considers whether searches were carried out across all 
relevant Departmental records, including but not limited to correspondence, emails, 
ministerial submissions, briefing papers, policy files, press office records, media monitoring, 
parliamentary correspondence, casework, cultural property files, museum policy files, 
records relating to the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of 
Cultural Interest (RCEWA), files concerning Arts Council England, advisory body 
correspondence, archived and legacy records, electronic document management systems, 
and any records transferred to or held by The National Archives on the Department's behalf.​
​
Please ensure searches include all reasonable variations of the property and family names, 
including "Great House Farm", "Ty Mawr", "Tŷ Mawr", "Llandough", "Llandough, Vale of 
Glamorgan", "Requester", "Williams", "Cedfin", and any obvious spelling variants.​
​
I would also be grateful if you could confirm which business areas, databases and record 
systems were searched, the search terms used, and whether any information was identified 
but excluded as being outside the scope of my request.​
​
Finally, if the Department has never held any records relating to Great House Farm, Ty Mawr, 
Llandough, or associated furniture, collections, archaeological material, heritage matters or 
media coverage, I would be grateful if you could confirm that explicitly.​
​
I look forward to the outcome of the internal review. 
 
In order to ensure cases are looked at afresh, internal reviews of Freedom of Information (FOI) 
requests are carried out in our department by officials unconnected to the handling of the original 
request. I was therefore asked to conduct the internal review and I present my findings below. 
 
Following a review of the initial approach and performing further enquiries, I can confirm that the 
department was warranted to issue a nil return for the questions you raise in your request for an 
internal review. 
 
The department holds no records regarding the specified property, as it was demolished prior to the 
establishment of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and the department holds no 
further information relevant to your request. If this is of particular importance to you, the National 
Archives might be a more fruitful source of information. They can be contacted here. 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
Freedom of Information Team 
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport 
 
Complaints and comments 
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to 
the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner’s Office have a 
complaints form which you can utilise to make a complaint. This can be found here: 
https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/official-information-concerns-report/official-information-concern/.