Deputy Leader David T Simmonds Expenses

Peter Silverman made this Freedom of Information request to Hillingdon Borough Council

The request was successful.

From: Peter Silverman

25 June 2009

20 Kingsend, Ruislip, HA4 7DA

Dear Sir or Madam,

25 June 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please let me have the following information in respect to Cllr
David Simmonds, Deputy Leader of the Council, for the 08/09
accounting year:

1. The total monetary value of expenses paid to him by the Council.

2. Any existing schedules showing this amount broken down by month.

3. Any existing schedules showing each item claimed e.g. showing
the nature of the item (eg taxi fare) and the amount claimed.

4. A copy of each claim form and the supporting documentation (eg
receipts or invoices)

For clarity, by "expenses" I mean all payments made to Cllr
Puddifoot in the period over and above his Basic and Special
Responsibility Allowances as detailed in the Council's
Constitution. This would include, but would not be limited
to,amounts paid in respect to travel and subsistence, and
dependants or carers allowances.

Where you have electronic copies please e-mail them as attachments.
Where this is not possible I would like to inspect the documents at
the Civic Centre and obtain, at my expense, photocopies of any
items of which I want a permanent record.

I look forward to hearing from you.

yours faithfully

Peter Silverman
www.hillingdon-watch.org.uk
[email address]
01895 625770

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From: Peter Silverman

29 June 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

I wish to extend my request to include expenses claimed by Officers
in respect of Cllr Simmonds. This would for example include (but
not be limited to) restaurant bills, taxis etc where Cllr Puddifoot
was accompanied by an Officer.

Yours faithfully,

Peter Silverman

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From: foi
Hillingdon Borough Council

20 July 2009

Attachment FOI Complaints Procedure 10 08.pdf
68K Download View as HTML

Dear Mr Silverman

I am writing in response to your Freedom of Information Requests
submitted on the 22nd and 25th June 2009 regarding the Leader and Deputy
Leaders expenses respectively and your emails dated the 29th of June
2009 amending/extending these requests.

For the sake of ease we have collated these requests under 1 matter.

As I understand it you were requesting to know:

Expenses of the Leader of the Council and Deputy Leader of the Council
for 08/09.

We can confirm that we hold the information requested. Details of
Members’ Allowances are published on our website and made publicly
available for inspection pursuant to the Councils Constitution (Part 6)
and The Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) (England) Regulations
2003.
http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/index.jsp?a...

As such this information is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act
2000 (FOIA) pursuant to S21 of the FOIA which states that information is
exempt if it is accessible by other means.

To make an appointment and to enquire about the cost of copies I would
recommend that you contact Democratic Services.
http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/index.jsp?a...

Extended Request to include claims by Officers in respect of Cllr
Puddifoot and Cllr Simmonds

Unfortunately we are unable to answer this request as our records are
not structured in a way as to allow us to easily extract the information
you are requesting.

S12 of the FOIA states that a Public Authority is not obliged to
respond to a request for information under S1 of the FOIA where it
estimates that the cost of doing so would 'exceed the appropriate
limit'. The 'appropriate limit', as laid down in the Freedom of
Information and Data Protection (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations
2004 (the 'Regulations'), is £450 which equates to 18 hours work.

We estimate that the cost of searching our records to ascertain whether
the information is held and to collate this information would be over
the 'appropriate limit' as laid down in the Regulations and as such is
exempt under S12 of the FOIA.

I would suggest that you consider either clarifying or narrowing down
your request, please do not hesitate to contact us if you require any
assistance with this.

Richard Ingle

Freedom of Information Team
Legal Services (3E 04)
London Borough of Hillingdon
Civic Centre
High Street
Uxbridge
UB8 1UW
01895 55(6923)

Please note, all material provided by the London Borough of Hillingdon
in response to your request for information is for your personal,
non-commercial use. The London Borough of Hillingdon reserves all
rights in the copyright of the information provided. Any unauthorised
copying or adaptation of the information without express written
confirmation from The London Borough of Hillingdon will constitute an
infringement of copyright. Any intention to re-use this information
commercially will require consent. Please forward any requests for
re-use of information to the Freedom of Information officer.

show quoted sections

29/06/09 11:51 >>>
Dear Sir or Madam,

I wish to extend my request to include expenses claimed by
Officers
in respect of Cllr Simmonds. This would for example include (but
not be limited to) restaurant bills, taxis etc where Cllr
Puddifoot
was accompanied by an Officer.

Yours faithfully,

Peter Silverman

show quoted sections

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