Download original attachment
(Word document)
This is an HTML version of an attachment to the Freedom of Information request 'Records concerning cancellation of Iain Sinclair book launch'.

Mr Charles Battsworth

gamesmonitor.org

17 December 2008

Ref: LBH43167-08

Dear Mr Battsworth

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST

Thank you for your recent Freedom of Information request received on 17 November 2008. You requested

  1. copies of any meeting minutes, notes or internal communications in relation to the decision to cancel the previously arranged book launch event at Stoke Newington Library (ie Iain Sinclair's book launched scheduled for March 2009);

  2. a time-line of events and procedures leading to the decision and details of Council personnel involved;

  3. copies of any formal policies on which the decision was based.

In relation to (1) above, please find attached a set of copy documents under this heading. Your request has been taken to refer to the decision process itself and the documents therefore end with the making of the decision.

You will note that one of the attached documents, namely the e-mail of Polly Rance dated 22nd September 2008, has been redacted. This was done in order to exclude reference to a matter entirely unrelated to the subject of your request. Likewise parts of e-mail chains which contain irrelevant material have been excluded.

I confirm that the Council holds a small number of other documents of the description specified in your request. In respect of these other documents, the Council asserts the exemption contained in s.36(2)(b) Freedom of Information Act 2000, “Prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs”, namely that in the reasonable opinion of a qualified person disclosure of this information would, or would be likely to, inhibit the free and frank provision of advice and the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation.

The qualified person in this instance is the Chief Executive, Tim Shields. He considers that certain disclosures, for instance some recommendations made by more junior staff to more senior staff, would be likely to lead to less candid and robust discussions in internal decision-making processes.

In all the circumstances of the present case, the Council also considers that the public interest in maintaining the exemption in respect of the latter documents outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

In relation to (2) above, please find attached a time-line of events and procedures.

In relation to (3) above, there is no applicable formal policy in relation to the decision in question. Therefore this information is not held.

To the extent of the information covered by the s.36 exemption, this letter serves as a Refusal Notice for the purposes of s.17 Freedom of Information Act 2000.

If you are dissatisfied with this response and wish to appeal, please write to Freedom of Information Appeals Panel, Corporate ICT, 6-15 Florfield Road, London E8 1DT and your complaint will be dealt with through our Internal Review procedure.

If you are still not satisfied following the Internal Review, you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner. He can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF 
Telephone: 01625 545 700
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Zoe Rowland

Corporate Information & Knowledge Manager

2

ICT

Zoe Rowland, Corporate Information & Knowledge Manager, 6- 15 Florfield Road, Reading Lane, London E8 1DT

http://www.hackney.gov.uk

Please contact:

Zoë Rowland

6-15 Florfield Road

Telephone:

020 8356 4032

Reading Lane

E-mail:

[email address]

London

Fax:

020 8356 2598

E8 1DT