-----Original Message-----
From: Lynda Crawford
Sent: 31 July 2008 15:50
To: 'Richard Jackson'
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - Breakdown on FOI Requests
and Rejections

Dear Mr Jackson

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

I refer to your request received on 24 July 2008 about Freedom of Information statistics.

On examination there appears to be a flaw in the Report to Cabinet of 6 December 2004 in that the wording to which you refer was not actually carried up into the Recommendations which were for adoption.  Accordingly, this was not adopted but in practice it is followed.

I list below the yearly breakdown of requests received/rejected.

2005 - 111 accepted of which 12 were rejected
2006 - 99 accepted of which 3 were rejected
2007 - 104 accepted of which 1 was rejected
2008 (to end of July) - 98 accepted of which 1 was rejected

The attached table is extracted from our tracking database.  We have not kept records of cases where Services had requested exemptions but were overruled by me.  The table reflects cases where requests were refused, there is no record of cases where information was released contrary to the wishes of the Services concerned and so this information is not held.

You may use our internal complaints procedure if you are dissatisfied.  If you are still dissatisfied you may appeal to the Information Commissioner.  Please contact Anne Bruin, Team Leader - Customer Services, if you wish to complain.

David Edwards
Interim Solicitor

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Jackson [mailto:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx]
Sent: 24 July 2008 01:16
To: David Edwards
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Breakdown on FOI Requests and
Rejections

     Dear Sir or Madam,

     In a report from the Director of Resources in 2004 (found at
     http://www.rother.gov.uk/media.cfm?mediaid=1453) it was recommend
     that "all proposed rejections are submitted to the Legal Services
     Manager for prior approval and if appropriate, ratification."

     Can you please clarify whether this policy (or any other similar
     policy) was adopted, and also provide a breakdown, by calendar
     year, of the total number of requests received, and of those how
     many were (a) rejected, and (b) proposed for rejection but
     overruled by the Legal Services Manager or other official.

     If this information is not held in a format that allows you to
     provide a full response within the allowable costs, please explain
     why and also provide for as many years, working backwards
     chronologically, as is possible. However as, in response to a
     recent FOI request, David Edwards, Interim Solicitor, stated that
     there have only been approximately 400 requests to the Council
     since the Act came into force I trust that there should be no
     problem with complying in full.

     Yours faithfully,

     Richard

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