conservative leader paul carter give jenny whittle a reference

Dear Mr Harris

Thank you for your request for information. Please accept my apologies for
the slight delay in replying to you; I appreciate that the Council has not
complied with statutory timescales on this occasion.

As you may or may not be aware, the Freedom of Information Act 2000
provides people with a right of access to recorded information held by
public authorities like Kent County Council. In return, public authorities
must confirm whether they hold the information requested or not, and if
they do, provide it to the applicant subject to any fees or exemptions
that may be applicable. The Act places no obligation on public authorities
to create information to satisfy requests.

As we have already confirmed to several users of the whatdotheyknow
website, the Council does not hold any information relating to references
for the
Maidstone Rural East candidate, so if Paul Carter did provide Ms Whittle
with a reference, it was not in his capacity as Leader of the Council.

However, even though there is no obligation to do so, I have asked the
Leader to comment on your request. In order to satisfy public interest and
accountability, he confirms that as President of Faversham & Mid Kent
Conservative Association, he did provide Ms Whittle with a reference.

If you are unhappy with this response, and believe KCC has not complied
with legislation, please ask for a review by following our complaints
process; details can be found at this link
[1]http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democ...
on our website. Please quote reference FOI/09/693.

If you still remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you can
appeal to the Information Commissioner, who oversees compliance with the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. Details of what you need to do, should
you wish to pursue this course of action, are available from the
Information Commissioner's website
[2]http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom...

Best regards

Caroline Dodge
Corporate Access to Information Coordinator, Chief Executive's Department
Kent County Council, Legal & Democratic Services, Room 1.94, Sessions
House, County Hall, Maidstone. ME14 1XQ.
Tel: 01622 221652 - Fax: 01622 694383
[3]http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democ...

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