Complaints against Barnet Council

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17th October 2011

 

Case Reference Number IRQ0421087

 

Dear Mr Langleben

 

Request for Information

 

Thank you for your correspondence dated 17 October 2011.

 

Your request is being dealt with in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.  We will respond by 14 November 2011 which is 20
working days from the day after we received your request.

 

Should you wish to reply to this email, please be careful not to amend the
information in the ‘subject’ field. This will ensure that the
information is added directly to your case. However, please be aware that
this is an automated process; the information will not be read by a member
of our staff until your case is allocated to a request handler.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Richard Sisson

Lead Internal Compliance Officer

Information CommissionerÂ’s Office

 

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Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.gov.uk

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Link: [1]File-List

10th November 2011

 

Case Reference Number IRQ0421087

 

Dear Mr Langleben

 

Further to our acknowledgement dated 17 October 2011, we are now in a
position to respond to your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act.

 

In your email of 17 October 2011 you requested the following information:

“I would like to know the number of complaints made to the ICO over the
past two years in regards to Barnet Council.”

 

We have looked at the complaints we received about Barnet Council from 1
October 09 to 1 October 11.We received a total of 42 complaints about
Barnet Council under the Data Protection Act, the Environmental
Information Regulations and the Freedom of Information Act.

 

Please note that the Council may not have been contacted by us in relation
to each complaint. For example we would not normally contact the Council
regarding the complaints that we closed as insufficient
evidence/insufficient information provided.

 

Please find below the numbers and outcomes of complaints received about LB
of Barnet for the period between 1 October 09 and 1 October 11

 

Complaints under Data Protection Act (DPA)

 

We received a total of 10 complaints under the Data Protection Act. Please
find below the breakdown of complaints by outcome:

o 3 were closed as compliance unlikely
o 1 advice given
o 5 insufficient information provided
o 1 remains open

 

Complaints under Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) 

 

We received a total of 11 complaints under EIR. The breakdown of
complaints by outcome is as follows:

o 1 Decision Notice served-upheld
o 2 withdrawn robust
o 1 withdrawn informally resolved
o 6 open
o 1 re-open

 

Complaints under Freedom of Information Act (FOI)

 

We received a total number of 21 complaints under FOI. The breakdown of
complaints by outcome is as follows:

o 9  withdrawn  robust
o 2 Decision notice served – not upheld
o 4 insufficient evidence
o 4 no Internal review
o 1 withdrawn informally resolved
o 1 Open

 

Explanation of outcomes

 

o Compliance unlikely: This is used for “requests for assessments”
where we have considered the matter, and it is our assessment that
compliance with the DPA is unlikely to have been achieved
o Insufficient information provided/ insufficient evidence provided
.This is used where we have received a complaint but have been unable
to progress it without further information from the complainant. 
o Withdrawn robust-cases- cases were closed without a Decision Notice. 
The term ‘robust’ was used to describe complaints in which both of
the following factors applied; there were no steps which could be
specified in a Decision Notice even if the Commissioner were to uphold
the complaint and; there was no public interest in serving a Decision
Notice. This outcome is no longer used.
o Withdrawn informally resolved– an informal resolution was reached
with the public authority and consequently it was not considered
necessary to issue a Decision Notice (DN)
o DN served upheld – the ICO issued a DN upholding the complaint
o DN served not upheld – the ICO issued a DN which did not uphold the
complaint
o No internal review: the complaint was made to the ICO before the
public authority had carried out a review of their decision not to
provide the information requested. 
o Advice given. This is used where a customer has not made a direct
complaint, but has asked how to complain or whether a particular
scenario would benefit from the ICO conducting an assessment.
o Open cases are cases still under investigation.

 

 

I hope you find the attached of assistance.

 

If you are dissatisfied with the response you have received and wish to
request a review of our decision or make a complaint about how your
request has been handled you should write to the Internal Compliance Team
at the address below or e-mail [2][email address]

 

Your request for internal review should be submitted to us within 40
working days of receipt by you of this response.  Any such request
received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the
Commissioner.

 

If having exhausted the review process you are not content that your
request or review has been dealt with correctly, you have a further right
of appeal to this office in our capacity as the statutory complaint
handler under the legislation.  To make such an application, please write
to the Case Reception Team, at the address below or visit the
‘Complaints’ section of our website to make a Freedom of Information Act
or Environmental Information Regulations complaint online.

 

A copy of our review procedure is attached.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Iman Elmehdawy

Lead Internal Compliance Officer

Information CommissionerÂ’s Office

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 Fax: 01625 524 510 Web: www.ico.gov.uk

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/radA5450_files/filelist.xml
2. mailto:[email address]