I am pleased to confirm that the Commission does hold the information you have requested and is able to disclose part of it, as follows:

1. How many staff are currently employed by the Audit Commission

As at 31 July 2008, the Audit Commission employed 2052 staff.

3. How many staff in total are ex-council employees

Our records* show that 64 staff worked for a local authority immediately before joining the Commission.

2. How many of these staff are ex-Camden council employees, what are their names and what rank do they hold

Our records* show that four employees worked for Camden Council before joining the Audit Commission. This includes Tracey Dennison, Managing Director of Human Resources, who joined the Commission from Camden Council.

It is public knowledge that Steve Bundred, the Chief Executive, also previously worked for Camden Council. However, as he did not immediately work for Camden before joining the Commission, he is not included in the four employees highlighted above.

I have given your request careful consideration and have come to the conclusion that the names and rank of the remaining three staff should be withheld due to Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA).

Section 40(2) of the FoIA exempts the personal information of third parties if its disclosure would breach one of the eight Data Protection Principles defined by the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA).

In this instance, it was considered that the disclosure of third party personal information would breach the First Data Protection Principle because the individuals involved do not expect their personal information to be made publicly available. They have a reasonable expectation that their personal information will remain confidential between the Audit Commission and themselves, especially as they are not informed that their personal information may be made publicly available in response to a Freedom of Information request.

To disclose the third party personal information into the public domain would therefore be unlawful (a breach of confidence) and unfair (they were not informed); this would therefore be a breach of the first Data Protection Principle, which states that personal information shall be processed fairly and lawfully. Also, the Commission does not consider there to be a valid Schedule 2 condition, also required in order to disclose the information.

* We only record details of an employee's last employer. We are therefore unable to tell you how many of our staff may have worked for Camden Council at some stage in their working life.

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If you are unhappy with what has been provided, you can raise a complaint under the Audit Commission's Access to Information Complaints Procedure, please see the following:

http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/aboutus/downloads/AccesstoInfoComplaints.pdf

If your complaint is not resolved to your complete satisfaction, you have the right of appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Please contact the Information Commissioner with your complaint by writing to: The Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Information supplied under the Freedom of Information Act and/or Environmental Information Regulations will be subject to copyright protection under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Information can be re-used for the purposes of research for non-commercial purposes, for private study, or for news reporting and reviews, without requiring formal consent. However, if you wish to re-use the information for commercial purposes, including publishing, you are required to seek the permission of the Audit Commission. Permission to re-use copyright information is granted in the form of a licence.

I will now close your request as of this date.

Yours sincerely

Gary Shipsey

Compliance Manager

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