Dear Stockport Borough Council,

I have just received the latest copy of the Stockport Review,
funded by the council taxpayer and am astonished at the number of
photos showing LibDem councillors in it. Were some of these photo
opportunities for the councillors to be dropped, then I am sure
more actual information for council taxpayers could be included.

How many column inches in the latest Review are taken up with
photos showing LibDem councillors, excepting the customary page
which gives the names and small photos of all councillors of all
parties and could be construed as useful?

Yours faithfully,

Sheila Oliver

Dear Mrs Oliver,

Thank you for your request for information below which has been given
reference 2616. Please quote this on any correspondence regarding your
request.

Stockport Council will respond to your request within 20 working days. If
there will be a charge for disbursements e.g. photocopying in order to
provide the information, we will inform you as soon as possible to see if
you wish to proceed; however such charges are usually waived if they
amount to less than £10.

Yours sincerely,

Claire Naven

Claire Naven

Data Protection & Freedom of Information Officer

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

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Dear Mrs Oliver,

I am writing in response to your request for information below (ref 2616).

The Stockport Review varies in each issue in terms of the stories covered.
These stories influence the number and type of photos within each issue.

Photos of Councillors are included because they are Executive Members who
lead on specific functions within the borough, not because they belong to
any particular political party. The Councillors are covered as they have
been democratically elected and to provide accountability to the people
they serve within the context of the services the Council provides and the
functions it performs.

In terms of the use of images rather than text, common practice is to
include a mix of both, as readers find this more interesting. In this
respect the Stockport Review is the same as any magazine or newspaper
which follow the same principle of carrying both text and images.

The latest edition of the Review carried 37 photographs, 13 of which
included photos of Elected Members.

If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your request you are
entitled to ask for an internal review. Any internal review will be
carried out by a senior member of staff who was not involved with your
original request. To ask for an internal review, contact
[1][email address] in the first instance.

If you are unhappy with the outcome of any internal review, you are
entitled to complain to the Information Commissioner. To do so, contact:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

[2]www.ico.gov.uk

01625 545 745

Yours sincerely,

Claire Naven

Claire Naven

Data Protection & Freedom of Information Officer

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

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Dear Ms Naven,

I note your reply and specifically:

"The Councillors are covered as they have been democratically
elected and to provide accountability to the people they serve
within the context of the services the Council provides and the
functions it performs."

There simply is no accountability if council taxpayers can be
banned and imprisoned for offences like using the town hall
lavatory, if freedom of information questions regarding the
building of a school on toxic waste (and please remember had I not
intervened the school would have opened in September 2008 with 550
pupils on site entirely contaminated with arsenic, lead and
asbestos), if the law is flouted regarding the asking of council
meeting questions - especially when this is to cover up fraudulent
actions - when the decision is made with no discussion whatsoever
to close four nurseries in deprived areas in a 10 minute meeting -
where actually is the accountability of the LibDem Executive
councillors then? The putting of photos of the LibDem Executive
councillors in the council magazine which is delivered to every
house in the Borough in the weeks leading up to the elections is
electioneering at the council taxpayers' expense and it must stop.

Yours sincerely,

Sheila Oliver