Andrew Ferguson Head of Service Children's Services

Dear Philip J Measures,

Apologies, but we have not received the FOI in Question, but if you can
forward the request we will deal with it as a matter of urgency.

Regards.

Tara Egan

Freedom of Information/Data Protection Act Officer
Registration and Records
Bedford Borough Council,St. Pauls Square,Bedford, MK40 1SJ
(Tel: 01234 221819 (Int: 2819)
Website(www.bedford.gov.uk)

'Bedford Borough Council - Working with our partners to make the borough
a better place to live, work and visit.'

show quoted sections

Dear Philip J Measures,

We have the heading' Andrew Ferguson Head of Service Children's Services',
can you please advise us what information you would like on this employee?

Regards,

Tara Egan

Freedom of Information/Data Protection Act Officer

Registration and Records

Bedford Borough Council,St. Pauls Square,Bedford, MK40 1SJ

(Tel: 01234 221819 (Int: 2819)

Website(www.bedford.gov.uk)

'Bedford Borough Council - Working with our partners to make the borough a
better place to live, work and visit.'

show quoted sections

Dear P J Measures,

Request pursuant to Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Request No. 2301

Thank you for your e-mail requesting information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

We will proceed with the request which we received 22/6/11. It is our
intention to have the information delivered to you by 20 July (20
working days).

As explained in my e-mail of 22nd June, we did not receive the original
request you forwarded on the 23rd May. Our ICT Department have searched
the email system and cannot find any record of receiving the email. As
22nd June is the first date we can evidence receipt of the request we
have not breached any statutory response date regulations therefore the
review process is not applicable.

The request is subject to any exemptions which the Council may rely on
to refuse the request, some of which are absolute and some of which only
apply where the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs
that in disclosing the information.

Once the information has been identified, the Council may also ask that
a fee be paid for processing and delivering the information to you.
Details of any fee to be charged will be notified to you as soon as
possible.

Any future correspondence you may have with the Council in relation to
this matter should be sent to the FOI/DPA Officer, Room129, Bedford
Borough Council, St Pauls Square, Bedford, MK40 1SJ or e-mail us at
[Bedford Borough Council request email]

If you do not hear from us within 20 working days please let us know.

Yours sincerely,

Tara Egan

Freedom of Information/Data Protection Act Officer
Registration and Records
Bedford Borough Council,St. Pauls Square,Bedford, MK40 1SJ
(Tel: 01234 221819 (Int: 2819)
Website(www.bedford.gov.uk)

'Bedford Borough Council - Working with our partners to make the borough
a better place to live, work and visit.'

show quoted sections

Dear Philip J Measures,

Thank you for your email.

As explained previously, we did not receive the original request you
forwarded on the 23rd May. Our ICT Department have searched the email
system and cannot find any record of receiving the email. As 22nd June is
the first date we can evidence receipt of the request we have not breached
any statutory response date regulations therefore the review process is
not applicable.

Regards,

Tara Egan

Freedom of Information/Data Protection Act Officer

Registration and Records

Bedford Borough Council,St. Pauls Square,Bedford, MK40 1SJ

(Tel: 01234 221819 (Int: 2819)

Website(www.bedford.gov.uk)

'Bedford Borough Council - Working with our partners to make the borough a
better place to live, work and visit.'

show quoted sections

Sent on behalf of Martin Williams, Assistant Chief Executive (Human
Resources & Corporate Policy),
Bedford Borough Council

Dear Mr Measures

Request pursuant to Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Request No. 2301

I refer to your recent enquiry for information held by the Council.

Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, the authority must
state whether or not the information exists and I confirm that we do hold
the information you requested.

Your request was:

1. Can you please supply details of Mr Ferguson's previous positions and
employers, together with dates employed, as detailed on his CV.

2. Can you also please confirm that you took into account prior to
employing him any details relating to suspensions, complaints or
disciplinary proceedings - completed

or not.

3. Can you please confirm whether he is registered with the General Social
Care Council (GSCC) as working in your geographical area.

QUESTION 1:

We can confirm that the information you requested is held under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. However, the Council, for the reasons
that follow, declines to disclose the information requested.

Pursuant to Section 17 (1) of the Act the Council

1. States that the details requested in your first question as stated
above is exempt information.

2. Specifies, that the exemption in question is contained within Section
40(2) by virtue of 40(3)(a)(i) of the FOI Act (FOIA) as it comprises
personal data and disclosure would be unfair.

Details of Mr Ferguson's previous positions and employers, together with
dates employed, as detailed in his application form amounts to `personal
data' under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA).

Section 40(2) of the FOIA provides for an absolute exemption in respect of
personal data where the disclosure of that data under FOIA would
contravene one of the data protection principles contained in Schedule 1
to the DPA.

The Council specifically addressed the question as to whether disclosure
of the personal data you have requested would contravene in particular the
first Data Protection principle. That principle requires that any
processing of personal data must be fair and lawful and must otherwise
meet one of the conditions provided for in Schedule 2 to the DPA. The
schedule 2 condition which is most likely to be relevant in this context
is that provided for in paragraph 6(1) of schedule 2. That condition will
be met, in essence, if the public interests in disclosure of the data
positively outweigh the data subjects' private interests in keeping their
data confidential.

In assessing fairness the Council has considered whether there is a
legitimate interest in the public accessing the withheld information.
These interests would be served by the disclosure of the withheld
information. However, the Council does not believe that any legitimate
interest in the public accessing the withheld information would outweigh
the data subject's private interests in keeping their data confidential.

For these reasons the Council is satisfied that the withheld information
is personal data and that disclosure would not comply with the first DPA
principle.

QUESTION 2:

The Council can state that our job application form requires a candidate
to list their employment history including dates of employment, positions
held and the main duties of the role. Details and reasons must be
provided for any gaps in work history and such gaps are explored at
interview.

To meet safeguarding and insurance requirements, the Council requires a
minimum of two satisfactory references for all prospective employees. The
referees should have known the candidate for a 3 year period.

Referee 1 - current/last employer.

Referee 2 - previous employer.

Candidates applying for a role working with children or vulnerable adults,
who are not currently working with children or vulnerable adults but have
done so in the past, are required to nominate a referee from the
organisation where they were most recently employed in this capacity.

Employment referees are asked of any live disciplinary offences and also
about any `time expired' disciplinary offences where they relate to
children. They are also asked if a candidate has been subject to any
child protection or vulnerable adult protection concerns and, if so, the
outcome of any enquiry or disciplinary procedure.

The Council also reserves the right to ask the candidate for permission to
contact a referee from any organisation they have been associated with.
This can be in addition to, or instead of, the names they provided.

QUESTION 3:

The GSCC confirmed that If a Social Worker is registered with the General
Social Care Council ( GSCC ), Care Council for Wales ( CCW ), or the
Northern Ireland Care Council ( NICC ), then the Social Worker can
practice in any of these countries. A Social Worker may be registered with
more than one council and can transfer registration.

Mr Ferguson has made a request to the GSCC to change his town of
employment after being appointed to Bedford Borough Council and the
register has now been updated.

The GSCC register can be checked online at the link below:

[1]http://www.gscc.org.uk/registerSearch.ph...

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your
own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for
the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial
publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder. For
further information regarding Re-use of Public Sector information please
contact Ann Jones, Corporate Information Officer,
[email address].

If after viewing the information you are for whatever reason unhappy with
our response to your application you are entitled to pursue any
dissatisfaction through the Council's Internal Review Procedure. Pursuant
to Section 17 (7) of the Act the procedure provided by the Council for
dealing with complaints about the determination of this request for
information is the Council's Corporate Complaints Procedure, a copy of
which can be obtained on request or is set out at: [2]www.bedford.gov.uk

Your attention is drawn to the provisions of section 50 of the Act set out
below regarding applications for decision by the Commissioner:

"50. - (1) Any person (in this section referred to as "the complainant")
may apply to the Commissioner for a decision whether, in any specified
respect, a request for information made by the complainant to a public
authority has been dealt with in accordance with the requirements of Part
I.

(2) On receiving an application under this section, the Commissioner shall
make a decision unless it appears to him-

(a) that the complainant has not exhausted any complaints procedure which
is provided by the public authority in conformity with the code of
practice under section 45,

(b) that there has been undue delay in making the application,

(c) that the application is frivolous or vexatious, or

(d) that the application has been withdrawn or abandoned.

(3) Where the Commissioner has received an application under this section,
he shall either-

(a) notify the complainant that he has not made any decision under this
section as a result of the application and of his grounds for not doing
so, or

(b) serve notice of his decision (in this Act referred to as a "decision
notice") on the complainant and the public authority.

(4) Where the Commissioner decides that a public authority-

(a) has failed to communicate information, or to provide confirmation or
denial, in a case where it is required to do so by section 1(1), or

(b) has failed to comply with any of the requirements of sections 11 and
17, the decision notice must specify the steps which must be taken by the
authority for complying with that requirement and the period within which
they must be taken.

(5) A decision notice must contain particulars of the right of appeal
conferred by section 57.

(6) Where a decision notice requires steps to be taken by the public
authority within a specified period, the time specified in the notice must
not expire before the end of the period within which an appeal can be
brought against the notice and, if such an appeal is brought, no step
which is affected by the appeal need be taken pending the determination or
withdrawal of the appeal.

(7) This section has effect subject to section 53."

Regards,

Martin Williams

Assistant Chief Executive (Human Resources and Corporate Policy)

Bedford Borough Council,

Borough Hall,

Cauldwell Street,

Bedford MK42 9AP

01234 276038

[3][email address]

[4]www.bedford.gov.uk

'Bedford Borough Council - Working with our partners to make the borough a
better place to live, work and visit.'

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Measures

Thank you for your email requesting an internal review regarding your
Freedom of Information Request No 2301 in respect of Andrew Ferguson,
Head of Service, Children's Services, which was received yesterday.

I can confirm that your request has been passed to our Internal Review
Team and it is our intention to advise you of the outcome of the review
by 23rd September (20 working days).

Yours sincerely

Ann Jones
Corporate Information Officer
Registration & Records
Bedford Borough Council
Borough Hall Room 317
Cauldwell St
Bedford MK42 9AP
Tel: 01234 276981 Extn: 44981 Fax: 01234 718390

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Mr Measures,

 

Please find attached a letter in respect of FOI request 2301.

 

Regards

 

Stewart Briggs

Executive Director of Environment
and Sustainable Communities

Bedford Borough Council

 

01234 228283

 

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