CLAE Register

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please provide the current entries in the registers of interests of
all CLAE members.

Please additionally provide copies of all acceptances of the
revised Code of Conduct by all CLAE Members identified to have been
adopted by the CLAE at the Chairs personal action in October 2008.

Please provide copies of the delegated authority to the Chair of
the CLAE from all the CLAE members to change the Code of Conduct
for Commission Members.

Yours faithfully,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Dear Foi Officer,

s1(1) of FOI identifies as well as guidance from the ICO identifies
that in my belief that Mr Karney has exceeded his authority.

It is further my belief that it is in the public interest for it to
be identified if

(a) there have been any mistakes made in the register of interests
by the local commissioners and if these have been corrected
(including the date of their correction). 'Mistakes' have been
identified through use of the FOIA.

(b) following the Chair of the CLAE changing the Code of Conduct of
the CLAE in October 2008 as identified through FOI it would be good
to have identified that their action was authorised by the CLAE
members, and if the CLAE members accept the authority of the Chair
of the CLAE to act on their behalf.

Personally I would not authorise anyone to change a Code of conduct
by which I was bound without full identification of the reasons.

This will enable it to be identified which Code of Conduct the CLAE
is actually operating under.

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Dear Foi Officer,

I must say I object to the CLAE seeking to set out to identify that
a request falls within s14(1) and 14(2) of the FOIA rather than
simply follow the ICO's model publication scheme and make the
information available as required by s1(1)(a) and s1(1)(b) of the
FOIA..

You could probably have supplied the information already if you
were not wrongly seeking to use exemptions contained with s14.

14. - (1) Section 1(1) does not oblige a public authority to
comply with a request for information if the request is vexatious.

(2) Where a public authority has previously complied with a request
for information which was made by any person, it is not obliged to
comply with a subsequent identical or substantially similar request
from that person unless a reasonable interval has elapsed between
compliance with the previous request and the
making of the current request.

(1) The register of interests of the CLAE is not published on the
CLAE website;

(2) The CLAE made available registers of interest of the current
Local Commissioners on 13 August 2008 through the whatdotheyknow
site in response to an FoI from myself;

(3) There has been a request for elements of the information under
different regimes. However, this information will not be made
public and I have been contacted by a number of parties who also
wish to access the information requested in the belief that it
should be made available through FOIA so they are able to simply
examine the information and make up their own minds.

(4) The ICO has produced guidance on the meaning of vexatious - and
the Information Tribunal has directed the ICO that the term is
linked to absence of flawed administrative practice (i.e.
maladministration according to the Shorter Oxford Dictionary).

(5) If an information request lacks purpose and/or value it will be
vexatious (in my opinion).

(a) There have been changes to the governing documents of the CLAE
in October 2008, it is not at all clear if these changes have been
authorized or if they are a nullity. This can only be identified
through access to information. There have been at least four
meetings of the CLAE since the Chair of the CLAE changed the
governing documents - and there is no mention of this in any of the
minutes or that approval has been granted by the CLAE members;

(b) There appear to have been identifiable mistakes made in the
registers of interest of some members of the CLAE;

(c) I and others wish to know that the Chair of the CLAE is acting
with authority and that the governing documents of the CLAE have
been properly authenticated and authorized or if the decision
making of the Chair of the CLAE is a nullity, and if he is acting
ultra-vires. We also wish to know if the register of interests of
some of the Local Commissioners have been corrected;

(6) The request is not obsessive. It has only been through use of
FOI that it has been possible to identify what appear to be very
real issues with the governance of the CLAE;

(7) The request can not cause distress to the CLAE as the documents
are expected to be available for public inspection. I am unable to
travel to the CLAE offices to view the documents easily;

(8) The request would not cause a significant burden. The
information requested is within the publication scheme, that the
Chair of the CLAE authorized in January 2009. It is just not easily
accessible.

(9) The request can not be considered to cause disruption and
annoyance. It is understood that the request might cause
embarrassment for the CLAE.

There is additionally a strong belief that Mr Karney has exceeded
his authority.

There would be little need for a large number of FOI requests if
the CLAE actually published the information required by the ICO's
model publication scheme, and quite probably according to its code
of conduct.

Please supply the information.

hopefully that provides all clarification needed.

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Dear Sir or Madam,

Internal Review on both handling of request and failure to follow
publication scheme.

Yours faithfully,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS