Our Ref: FOI 3642

21^st December 2009

Email response to Mr Luqman Khan

Dear Mr Khan

Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Request for Information

I am writing further to your Freedom of Information request dated 7^th December 2009 where you have requested the following:

On 4 of November 2009 made FOI request to the Communities and Local Government (CLG) of the central government about the Working Neighbourhood Fund in Birmingham (WNF).

On 3 December 2009 the CLG response told me that CLG has allocated the WNF exclusively to Birmingham City Council (BCC) and that remains entirely responsible for the whole of the WNF in Birmingham even where the Council use the Strategic Partnership to allocate or distribute it.

The CLG also told me that WNF main purpose is to tackle worthlessness.

Please can BCC provide the Following information on WNF in Birmingham under the FOI request?

This Freedom of Information request is made in public interest for reasons of Transparency, Accountability, Equality and Best Value for Money.

The Department of Communities and Local Government has given significant amount of WNF public money to BCC.

Below is the extract of the text from page 13 of the statutory Code of Practice on the Duty to Promote Race Equality.

Statutory - CODE OF PRACTICE ON THE DUTY TO PROMOTE RACE EQUALITY

Private or voluntary organisations carrying out a public authority's functions - on page 13

2.9 When a public authority has a contract or other agreement with a private company or voluntary organisation to carry out any of its

functions (see the glossary), and the duty to promote race equality applies to those functions, the public authority remains responsible for meeting the general duty and any specific duties that apply to those functions. The authority should therefore consider the arrangements it will need. If the authority's race equality duties are relevant to the functions it is contracting out, it may be appropriate to incorporate those duties among the performance requirements for delivery of the service. For example, a contractor could be required to monitor service users by their racial group, to make sure the authority is meeting its duties. This would not involve requirements concerning the contractor's internal practices. Whatever action the authority takes, it must be consistent with the policy and legal framework for public procurement.

According the Statutory code of practice on the duty to promote race equality BCC responsible for the Transparency, Accountability and Best Value for money and race equality to do with WNF.

1 From the start of the WNF please give amount of WNF money in each named financial year BCC has received.

2 Please give details of the statutory race equality impact assessments done to decide which thematic functions such as unemployment, education and so on in Birmingham to fund with WNF.

3 Please give the amount of WNF money that has already been spent in each financial year on each thematic function in Birmingham such as unemployment, education and so on and give the details of the race equality impact assessments done in each year for each theme.

4 Please give evidence (in percentages) of the race equality impacts assessment showing the total population of the different racial groups such as Pakistanis and so on, who could be potential customers for each WNF thematic function in Birmingham such as unemployment, education and so on in each financial year, which should have been already done by BCC because they are statutorily required by the public duty in the Race Relations Act.

5 Please give evidence (in percentages) the inequality gaps between different racial groups such as Pakistanis and so which BCC identified from the impact assessments of each WNF thematic function in Birmingham such as unemployment, education and so on in each financial year.

6 Please give evidence of the actions that have been taken and the amount of WNF funding proportionately allocated for each financial year by BCC to reduce inequality gaps between the different racial groups such Pakistanis and so on identified by the impact assessments of each thematic function such as unemployment, education and so on.

7 Please give evidence (in percentages) the different racial groups such as Pakistanis and so assisted (outputs) so far by WNF in Birmingham in each financial year and in each thematic function such as unemployment, education and so on.

8 Please provide evidence in percentages of the different racial groups such as Pakistanis and so on, directly employed by the organisations (please name the organisations) to whom BCC has given the WNF money.

9 Please give the number of complaints BCC has received from individuals and from organisations about WNF in Birmingham. Please break the number of complaints into different racial groups such as Pakistanis and so on.

10 Please explain the extent to which BCC consider the Councillors and officers who break the statutory law in relation to the statutory race equality public duty to do with BCC WNF activities is a breach of Confidence and Trust.

11 Please give the name of the persons in BCC whose job is to check that Councillors and officers comply with statutory race equality public duty in relation BCC WNF activities.

12 please give details of the sanctions policy BCC can use against BCC Councillors and officers when statutory law is broken by them to do with BCC activities.

The Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limits and Fees) Regulations 2004 provide that where the costs of complying with one or more series of related requests exceeds, in the case of local authorities, 18 hours, are entitled to either:

Birmingham City Council considers that the 12 requests set out above are related requests, as they are all focused on `WNF' and estimates that the time involved by officers, in locating and collating the information requested from the relevant service area will easily exceed the 18 hours set out in the legislation by a considerable amount.

Accordingly, Birmingham City Council invites you to either scale down the number of requests, so that the Council can provide the information to you within the 18 hours specified in the legislation, or alternatively, you can agree to pay the excess time at the specified statutory rate of £25.00 per hour.

If you wish to take the second option, please let us know, and we will endeavour to provide you with a detailed estimate.

Until we hear from you, this request is suspended.

If you are not satisfied with the response you may ask for an internal review. If subsequently you are not satisfied with the Council's decision you may apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Council. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at the following address:

The Information Commissioner

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Telephone: 01625 545745

Web Address: www.ico.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Corporate Information Governance Team

Re use of Public Sector Information

The information provided is subject to Birmingham City Council copyright, however, it may be re-used for personal, educational or non-commercial purposes without further reference to the City Council. If the re-use is for other purposes, such as commercial re-use, you should notify the City Council in writing to seek approval or agree terms for re-use. Where Birmingham City Council does not hold the copyright, it has indicated the copyright holder. Permission for re-use should be sought from them directly.