Our Ref: FOI 3642

18^th January 2010

Email response to Mr Luqman Khan

Dear Mr Khan

Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Request for Information

I am writing further to your email dated 5^th January 2010 in relation to the response provided to you on 21^st December 2009 for your Freedom of Information request.

We have a breakdown on the 12 questions you submitted on how long it would take to collate the information.

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

To provide this information it is estimated 1 hour.

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.

This would require talking to 7 thematic partnerships and at least 5 non thematic programme leads in the first instance and potentially up to around 150 project officers and reviewing every project proposal form. This would also require speaking/liaising with 10 constituencies re almost 2000 projects with around 200 project officers. Estimated time 20 hours minimum

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.

We can provide information on spend thematic function. To provide details of the race equality impacts this would require talking to 7 thematic partnerships and at least 5 non thematic programme leads in the first instance and potentially up to around 150 project officers and reviewing every project proposal form. This would also require speaking to 10 constituencies re almost 2000 projects with around 200 project officers. Estimated time 30 hours minimum

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.

As Above in question 3

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.

As Above in question 3

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.

As Above in question 3

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.

These questions seem to relate to the WNF worklessness programme but this is not clear. If we were to apply this to the whole programme, this would require talking to 7 thematic partnerships and at least 5 non thematic programme leads in the first instance and potentially up to around 150 project officers and reviewing every project proposal form. This would also require speaking to 10 constituencies re almost 2000 projects with around 200 project officers. Breaking the outputs by ethnicity may not be applicable for the targets for all partnerships e.g. reducing gang violence through mediation. Estimated time 30 hours minimum

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.

Many organisations are involved in the delivery of WNF. This would require talking to 7 thematic partnerships, around 5 none thematic programmes and 10 constituencies to ascertain a list of organisations involved in implementing projects. In addition we would need to speak to contract officers in the Development Directorate who run 40 employment contracts and the constituency development fund in each constituency which could be 40 more organisations. We would then have to ask the organisations for this data and collate it. Estimated time based on number of organisations. 200 hours minimum.

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.

The programme is delivered by partners not just the City Council This would require talking to 7 thematic partnerships and at least 5 non thematic programme leads in the first instance and reviewing the Council's and others systems. This would also require speaking to 10 constituencies. Estimated time 20 hours minimum

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.

WNF is not limited to BCC and is programme managed by partners with projects lead by the public, private and voluntary sector. This would require Be Birmingham to liaise with BCC and BCC legal services and the legal teams of partner organisation in the themes e.g. the police, PCT's etc. Estimated time 10 hours.

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.

This could be provided but WNF projects are not solely delivered by BCC. Estimated time 3 hours.

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.

Estimated time 5 hours.

The appropriate limit specified in the regulations is £450.00. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether the department holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting the information. Consequently, the Council is not obliged by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to respond to your request see section 12(1).

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 at the specified statutory rate of £25.00 per hour. The estimated cost of processing your request is £9775 which equates to 391 hours worth of work. This charge has been calculated in accordance with section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Freedom of Information fees Regulations.

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.