Our Reference: RFI:2202-09
BY EMAIL ONLY
Mr John Walker
29 June 2009
Dear Mr Walker
Request for Information – Common Purpose
Thank you for your recent email, in which you requested information in pursuance of the
Freedom of Information Act. For clarification, you requested the following information:
1. The names and ranks / grades of all employees in your organisation who at Common Purpose
"graduates"
2. The total expenditure by your organisation on Common Purpose courses since its creation together
with a copy of the invoice for each Common Purpose course paid for by your organisation.
We have now completed our investigations into your request for information, and are able to
respond as follows.
The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) was formed on 1 December 2008, by virtue of
the Housing and Regeneration Act (2008). HCA is the successor body to Commission for
the New Towns and the Urban Regeneration Agency (which were previously trading under
the name “English Partnerships”), as well as the investment functions of the Housing
Corporation (the regulatory functions having been transferred to the new Tenants Services
Authority). Furthermore, a number of delivery programmes from Communities and Local
Government were transferred into HCA, along with the Academy for Sustainable
Communities.
You have submitted a similar request for information to English Partnerships. As this
organisation has now been succeeded by HCA, we have combined our response to you as
set out below.
We have considered your request for the names and grades of Common Purpose
“graduates” employed by HCA, and are unable to provide this information in response to
your request. This is due to the following reasons.
The HCA was formed in December 2008 and is therefore a new organisation. We do not
hold a central register of staff attending Common Purpose courses. This is because staff
may have completed the programme prior to joining the organisation, during their
employment at a predecessor organisation from which we have not inherited the records, or
attended a course independently and without sponsorship from their employer. To compile
Homes and Communities Agency, Central Business Exchange II
414-428 Midsummer Boulevard, Central Milton Keynes, MK9 2EA
0300 1234 500
Homesandcommunities.co.uk
such a list now would require individual consultation with all HCA employees and as such
would involve the creation of new information. Not only would this exceed our obligations
under the Act, but this would also present an unreasonable burden on the resources of
HCA.
Furthermore, even if HCA did possess a comprehensive list of Common Purpose
“graduates”, to provide this information in response to a Freedom of Information Act request
would, in our opinion, contravene the first Data Protection Principle (which requires all
processing of personal data to be fair and lawful) and therefore be exempt under Section 40
of the Freedom of Information Act.
You have also requested copies of invoices relating to Common Purpose training. Having
checked our records, we cannot trace any Common Purpose invoices having been received
by HCA to date and therefore our expenditure is nil. We confirm that we do hold some
information relating to invoices and costs incurred by nine members of staff from the former
organisation known as English Partnerships, a predecessor organisation to the HCA.
These total £20,115 excluding VAT over a five year period.
We are unable to ascertain from these invoices whether attendance at one or more of these
courses qualifies as Common Purpose “graduate” status; however, we provide copies
containing the date and amount of each invoice and the content of the course supplied.
You will note that we have redacted the names of the staff members who received the
training. As outlined above, this is in accordance with the exemption at Section 40 of the
Freedom of Information Act. This exemption permits us to withhold information if disclosure
would contravene any of the principles of the Data Protection Act (1998). We feel that, on
this occasion, disclosure of the names listed on these invoices would contravene the first
Data Protection Principle, as it would constitute the unfair processing of personal data.
We confirm that four invoices relate to Technical Staff grades, two invoices relate to
Management Staff grades and three invoices relate to former employees no longer working
for the HCA. For the avoidance of doubt, none of the invoices relate to Corporate, Regional
or Non-Executive Directors of the HCA.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions regarding this response or
any further queries. If you are unhappy with the way Homes and Communities Agency has
handled your request you may ask for an internal review. You should contact
Head of Legal Services
Homes and Communities Agency
110 Buckingham Palace Road
London
SW1W 9SA
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 can
be contacted at
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely
Catherine Moran
Information Access Officer
Homes and Communities Agency
