FOI Internal Review Process

Dear Mr Martin

The internal review process of an FOI request is normally invoked when the
authority has refused to respond to a request in full or in part due to an
exemption being applied. When the appeal process is used, we ensure, by
reference to our Legal Services team, that the exemption has been
correctly applied, and that the "public interest test" does not recommend
disclosure. If we believe that the exemption has been correctly applied,
or that the authority has fulfilled its responsibility under the
legislation, the applicant then has the right of referral to the
Information Commissioner. If the appeal is upheld the information would
be disclosed and an apology given.

For complaints reviewed under the authority's corporate complaints
procedure, if a complainant is unhappy with the outcome of a complaint at
stage one it will be reviewed by a senior officer not previously involved
with the original investigation, usually the customer care manager. If the
complainant remains unhappy they can then refer to the Local Government
Ombudsman.

I trust this clarifies the position.

Yours sincerely

FOI Admin Officer

London Borough of Sutton

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Dear Mr Martin

The internal review process of an FOI request is normally invoked when the
authority has refused to respond to a request in full or in part due to an
exemption being applied. When the appeal process is used, we ensure, by
reference to our Legal Services team, that the exemption has been
correctly applied, and that the "public interest test" does not recommend
disclosure. If we believe that the exemption has been correctly replied,
or that the authority has fulfilled its responsibility under the
legislation, the applicant then has the right of referral to the
Information Commissioner. If the appeal is upheld the information would
be disclosed and an apology given.

For complaints reviewed under the authority's corporate complaints
procedure, if a complainant is unhappy with the outcome of a complaint at
stage one it will be reviewed by a senior officer not previously involved
with the original investigation, usually the customer care manager. If the
complainant remains unhappy they can then refer to the Local Government
Ombudsman.

I trust this clarifies the position.

FOI Admin Officer

London Borough of Sutton

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Dear Mr Martin

Thank you for your email which has been logged as a further request under
the FOI - reference 1535.

I(i). The FOIA is legislation which London Borough of Sutton, like all
public bodies, is required to comply with. We do not have an additional
policy document on FOIA. There is helpful guidance to authorities on the
ICO website which we refer to when responding to requests. London Borough
of Sutton's website contains our publication scheme, FOIA guidance for the
public and an E-form which can be used to make FOI requests and my team is
in the process of producing a leaflet which explains the FOIA. This will
also be available on the website in due course.

(ii) I attach a photocopy of our Contact Charter.

I trust this answers your request.

FOI Admin Officer

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Dear Mr Martin

This appears to be a duplicate of request 1535 which we have responded
to already.

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Dear Mr Martin

I am afraid I am confused by your request.

We have provided you with a response to your requests.

i) there is no need for an FOI policy, it is
legislation that we are obliged to comply with.

ii) we do not have a document called a communications
policy, we have a customer contact charter which I hereby attach once
again.

Please be advised, that making repeated requests for the same information
can fall into the category of vexatious or unreasonably persistent under
the FOI Act, which we are not obliged to respond to.

Yours sincerely

FOI Admin Officer

London Borough of Sutton

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Dear Mr Martin

The Customer Care team is staffed so that in most realistic scenarios
there is adequate cover for staff absence, as all team members can
administer FOI requests and have access to the FOI inbox (the main channel
for FOI requests).

In a real emergency, where all members of the Customer Care team were
unexpectedly absent from the office (for example if pandemic flu took
hold) then I would imagine that the council would focus on key front line
services, and would leave responding to FOI requests until the emergency
was over. It is unlikely we would employ untrained temporary staff with no
supervision for this purpose.

The FOI page of our internal intranet site provides guidance and
information for officers around the Council who may respond to FOI
requests, but most of this is via links to documents and FAQs on the ICO
website. Our intranet is only viewable internally, and is in the process
of being updated. In general terms FOI requests should be handled in the
same way as any other request for information, except that there are
timescales to comply with, we are only required to provide information
that we hold, and there are exemptions to the release of information which
can be applied in certain circumstances.

The ICO website (and helpline) provides the most reliable guidance to the
FOIA and is the main source of guidance which we use, although we do
consult colleagues in Legal Services on occasion. I trust this answers
your question.

Sarah Milne

Corporate Customer Care Manager

Chief Executive's Group

London Borough of Sutton

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Dear Mr Martin
T is not possible to give you electronic access to our internal intranet
site. However if you provide a mailing address I am happy to send you
the information in hard copy as requested.

Sarah Milne
Corporate Customer Care Manager
Chief Executive's Group
London Borough of Sutton

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Dear Mr Martin

As I have explained, our intranet page for FOI is in the process of being
updated. I have done as you suggested, but you will note that the
downloads are mainly documents from the ICO which strictly speaking under
FOI we are not obliged to provide as they are already in the public
domain.

The final link still points to the old DCA website which is one of the
reasons the site is being updated.

I trust this responds to your request. Additional questions will be
treated as a new FOI requests.

FOI Admin Officer

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