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Trevor Nunn Date: 22^nd January 2009

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

During the last five years how many times has the Local Government Ombudsman (as a result of investigating a complaint against South Tyneside Borough Council) brought to the attention of the Council the fact that a member of South Tyneside Borough Council staff had misled them, lied to them or done anything else to hinder their investigation. If they have, what disciplinary action was taken against the individual(s) concerned by the Council.

Council's response

South Tyneside Council does not centrally hold this information nor can it recall such a situation arising.

However, to check the accuracy of this statement the Council would need to conduct a disproportionate exercise of trawling through every investigation file it holds for the last 5 years. As we consider this request to be unreasonable your request is therefore refused. I will now explain my decision for this 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 the time to process your request will far exceed the cost limits of the Act and so it is on this basis that your request is refused.

Refusal notice

A refusal notice is enclosed outlining our reasons for refusal.

I hope this is to your satisfactory.

Appeal procedure

Should you wish to appeal against the decision made about this matter 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 your final outcome, you can appeal against our final decision by writing to the Information Commissioner to have your case independently reviewed.

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]