Correspondence on the legality, suitability and prospective viability of TIF for the City Square Project.

Dear Mr Aberdein,

Freedom of Information enquiry reference ENQ8770.

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 received on 31st May 2010, which has been forwarded to the relevant section.

The scheduled date for our response to your request for information is 28th June 2010.

If you have any enquiries meantime please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Anderson
Records Manager

FoI Enquiries Team
Legal and Democratic Services
Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen AB10 1AQ
Tel: 01224 522875/523827
Fax: 01224 638556
email: [Aberdeen City Council request email]

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Dear Mr Aberdein,

Please accept our apologies for the late response to your information
request.

Thank you for your information request of 31 May 2010, made under the
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). Aberdeen City
Council (ACC) has completed the necessary search for the information
requested.

Please could you furnish copies of all correspondence on the subject of
the legality and/or suitability and/or prospective viability of TIF (Tax
Increment Finance) for the City Square Project between Aberdeen City
Council and
a) ACSEF,
b)Scottish Enterprise,
c) the Scottish Government,
d) Sir Ian Wood.

Please see below the link to the report at the last Council meeting:-
http://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/Pu...

You may find pages 13-15 helpful.

This is the only 'recorded' information captured by your request.

We hope this helps with your request.

Yours sincerely,

Jean Reid
FOI Compliance Assistant

FURTHER INFORMATION

Aberdeen City Council’s Complaints Procedure under the FOISA

An applicant who is dissatisfied with the way in which Aberdeen City
Council has dealt with his/her request for information under section
1(1) of the FOISA regime, may, by virtue of section 20 of the FOISA,
require Aberdeen City Council to review its actions and/or decisions in
relation to that request.

If you wish Aberdeen City Council to review its actions and/or
decisions with respect to your request for information, you should write
to the City Archivist, Resources Management, Aberdeen City Council, Old
Town House, Broad Street, Aberdeen, AB10 1AQ. The City Archivist will
arrange for your application for review to be considered by the Review
Panel. The Review Panel will write to you informing you of its decision
by not later than twenty working days after receipt of your request
requiring that a review be made. By virtue of section 21 of the FOISA,
the Review Panel will also provide you with a statement of its reasons
for arriving at the decision it has made.

Your request for review should reach Aberdeen City Council by no later
than 22 September 2010. Your request for review must be in writing (or
in another form which has some permanency and is capable of being used
for subsequent reference i.e. audio/video tape recording). You must
state your name and address for correspondence. You must also give
details of the information that you originally requested from Aberdeen
City Council, and must state the reasons why you are dissatisfied with
the way in which your application for information has been dealt with.

Your Right to Complain to the Scottish Information Commissioner

By virtue of Section 47 of the FOISA, a person who is dissatisfied with
a Notice issued by Aberdeen City Council under Section 21 of the FOISA,
may apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner, for a decision as to
whether, in any respect specified in that application, the request for
information under section 1(1) of the FOISA, has been dealt with by
Aberdeen City Council in accordance with Part 1 of the FOISA.

An application to the Scottish Information Commissioner must be made in
writing (or in another form having some permanency ie a video/tape
recording) within six months of receipt of a section 21 Notice by the
applicant. An applicant must state his/her name and address. An
applicant must also specify: -

- the request for information to which the requirement for review by
Aberdeen City Council relate;
- the matter which gives rise to the applicant’s dissatisfaction
pertaining to the applicants request for review;
- the matter which gives rise to the applicant’s dissatisfaction
pertaining to the decision given in the section 21 Notice.

The Scottish Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Scottish Information Commissioner, Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St
Andrews, Fife, KY16 9BS
(Telephone 01334 464610; Fax 01334 464611; Email
[email address])

FoI Enquiries Team
Legal and Democratic Services
Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen AB10 1AQ
Tel: 01224 522875/523827
Fax: 01224 638556
email: [Aberdeen City Council request email]

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Dear Mr Aberdein,

Please see attached report provided today in relation to your
information request.

The attached was included in the Report to Full Council on 19 May.

Please accept my apologies this was not provided in my initial response
of 29 June.

We hope this helps with your request.

Yours sincerely,

Jean Reid
FOI Compliance Assistant

FoI Enquiries Team
Legal and Democratic Services
Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen AB10 1AQ
Tel: 01224 522875/523827
Fax: 01224 638556
email: [Aberdeen City Council request email]

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Hi Jean,

I can most definitely confirm that, prior to receipt of the FOI
enquiry, neither I nor any of my staff had entered into any written
correspondence with any other party relating to "the legality, suitability
and prospective viability of TIF for the City Square Project".

Regards
Gerry

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Dear Mr Aberdein,

I can now confirm that 'not one word else has been set down in writing
about the legality, suitability and prospective viability of TIF for the
City Square Project in any form of correspondence between Aberdeen City
Council and even one of the four parties cited'.

The following was received from Services when I asked they double check
for correspondence:

- I really have nothing else I can add to my original response. At that
time all written correspondence was between Scottish Enterprise and
Price Waterhouse Cooper who were contracted by Scottish Enterprise to
undertake a study on TIF.

- I can most definitely confirm that, prior to receipt of the FOI
enquiry, neither I nor any of my staff had entered into any written
correspondence with any other party relating to "the legality,
suitability and prospective viability of TIF for the City Square
Project" I can also confirm there has been no further correspondence
between this office and another party on this subject.

- A lot of my material is internal ACC correspondence on TIF etc, but
to my mind the enquirer is only seeking correspondence between ACC and
ACSEF, SE, SG, SIW etc which I definitely do not hold.

I hope this helps with your additional query.

Yours sincerely,

Jean Reid
FOI Compliance Officer (Acting)

FoI Enquiries Team
Legal and Democratic Services
Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen AB10 1AQ
Tel: 01224 522875/523827
Fax: 01224 638556
email: [Aberdeen City Council request email]

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09/08/2010 18:21 >>>
FOI Enquiries

Dear Jean Reid
I'm afraid I must ask you what your sentence quoted below
actually
means.

"This is the only 'recorded' information captured by your
request."
(Your single quotes).

The information you did direct me towards, for which I thank you,
was already in the public domain.

Am I now to understand that not one word else has been set down
in
writing about the legality, suitability and prospective viability
of TIF for the City Square Project in any form of correspondence
between Aberdeen City Council and even one of the four parties I
cited?

Yours sincerely,

John Aberdein

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Dear Mr Aberdein,

An officer in ACC has recently returned from paternity leave and has
provided a whole batch of emails between ACC and Scottish Enterprise
that is captured by your information request.

Please accept my sincerest apologies these were not provided in our
original response to your information request.

As this is a large amount of information we are in the process of
redacting personal details of those who are not employees of ACC in
accordance with the Data protection Act.

Can you please supply a postal address and I will post these out to
you.

Your sincerely,

Jean Reid
FOI Compliance Officer (Acting)

FoI Enquiries Team
Legal and Democratic Services
Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen AB10 1AQ
Tel: 01224 522875/523827
Fax: 01224 638556
email: [Aberdeen City Council request email]

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Dear Mr Aberdein,

Please accept my apologies you have not been provided with the information I previously advised you about.

It has taken some time to redact third party information in accordance with the Data Protection Act.

I have posted the information to you today.

Yours sincerely,

Jean Reid
FOI Compliance Officer (Acting)

FoI Enquiries Team
Legal and Democratic Services
Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
Town House
Broad Street
Aberdeen AB10 1AQ
Tel: 01224 522875/523827
Fax: 01224 638556
email: [Aberdeen City Council request email]

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