Trevor R Nunn Date: 2^nd November 2009

Email: [FOI #20426 email] Our ref: FOI.09.5278

Dear Mr Nunn

Freedom of Information Request

I refer to your recent Freedom of Information Request. Your request asked for the following information: -

Your request

Over the last five years

(1) How many Local Government Act Part III Section 32(3) notices has your council

served on a Local Government Ombudsman.

(2) How many times has the Ombudsman concerned found the council guilty of

maladministration for misusing a Section 32(3) notice.

Council's response

I can confirm the following information with regards to your FOI request above.

We do not centrally hold these types of records on the Council's corporate feedback system but we do presume that the Local Government Ombudsman would do so.

We have therefore made a decision to refuse your request on the grounds of costs. This decision is explained further in the “Grounds for refusal” section below.

Grounds for refusal

The Council is not legally obliged to respond to requests that are estimated to exceed the cost threshold of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 i.e. of18 hours/£450.00. It is estimated that to process your request will involve a disproportionate exercise of trawling through individual records that will far exceed the cost limits of the Act. It is on this basis that your request is therefore refused.

A refusal notice is enclosed outlining the reasons for the refusal.

I hope this information is of assistance to you.

Copyright procedure

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use this information for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and news reporting. Any other re-use of this information, for example commercial publication requires the permission of the Council as the Copyright holder. All re-use requests will be treated under the Re-Use of Public Information Regulation 2006.

Appeal procedure

Should you wish to appeal against the decision you can write to the Records Management Team Leader to have your case reviewed by our Internal Review Panel. This should be sent to us within four weeks and must clearly state the reasons for your appeal and your FOI reference number. The Records Management Team address is as follows: Records Management Team, Town Hall and Civic Buildings, Westoe Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE33 2RL.

Information Commissioner's office (ICO)

Should you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of your appeal you can write to the Information Commissioner to ask for an independent review of your case.

The Information Commissioner is the Government's Independent Body responsible for overseeing the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

Please do note that the ICO will only review cases that have exhausted the Council's internal appeal procedures. All correspondence to the ICO must quote the Council's reference number and your reasons for your appeal.

The ICO's contact details are as follows: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF. More information can be found on the ICO's website at www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.

If you have any further queries about this matter then please do not hesitate to contact me on the number below:

Yours sincerely

Brian T Scott

Head of Corporate Governance

Tel: 0191 424 7200

Email: [email address]