Freedom of Information request

Dear Mr Rucki,

Thank you for your email dated 8 March 2010 in which you have requested
how many Freedom of Information requests are answered within the statutory
20 working days requirement.

We are considering your request under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, and hope to respond within the statutory 20 working
days.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, either
myself or a colleague will let you know the likely charges before
proceeding.

If you have any queries about this email, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Yours sincerely

Angela Haynes-Ranger

Legal Support Officer

London Borough of Croydon

Democratic & Legal Services

Chief Executive's Office

5th Floor,Taberner House

Park Lane, Croydon CR9 3JS

DX 136017 Croydon 17

Tel:020 8686 4433 ext 61402

Fax:020 8760 5679

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Help us get more police for Croydon. Register your support at
www.croydon.gov.uk/morepolice
Looking to get fit for 2010? Pop into the Healthy Living Hub at the
Central Library.

Please use this web site address to view the Council's E-Mail disclaimer -
www.croydon.gov.uk/disclaimer/email.htm

Thank you for your message. I am out of the office until Tuesday 2nd November 2010. If you need further assistance please contact the Practice Manager Michelle Hughes on ext 61964.

Book a seat for the Clocktower's autumn programme: http://www.croydonclocktower.org.uk

Tough times need tough decisions - how would you set the council budget: http://www.croydon.gov.uk/youchoose

Please use this web site address to view the Council's E-Mail disclaimer -
www.croydon.gov.uk/disclaimer/email.htm

Dear Mr Rucki,

We are considering your request under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. In your initial request you asked for the following
information:

"Under the freedom of information act may I be informed of the make and
model of automobile used to chauffeur the mayor of Croydon to functions
within your borough and beyond.

I would also like to know the mileage clocked up on this automobile in the
past two financial years."

In your response of 26 October you have asked for additional information
including price paid, seller information and odometer readings which did
not form part of your initial request and accordingly your further request
has been logged as a new Freedom of Information request.

Regards

Angela Haynes-Ranger

Legal Support Officer

Chief Executives Office

Democratic and Legal Services Department

5th Floor, Taberner House

Tel: 020 8686 4433 ext 61402

Fax: 020 8760 5679

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Book a seat for the Clocktower's autumn programme:
http://www.croydonclocktower.org.uk

Tough times need tough decisions - how would you set the council budget:
http://www.croydon.gov.uk/youchoose

Please use this web site address to view the Council's E-Mail disclaimer -
www.croydon.gov.uk/disclaimer/email.htm

Please ignore previous email

Angela Haynes-Ranger

Legal Support Officer

Chief Executives Office

Democratic and Legal Services Department

5th Floor, Taberner House

Tel: 020 8686 4433 ext 61402

Fax: 020 8760 5679

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Haynes-Ranger, Angela
Sent: 01 November 2010 13:54
To: 'Robert Rucki'
Subject: FOI Request Reference F/10/187

Dear Mr Rucki,

We are considering your request under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. In your initial request you asked for the following
information:

"Under the freedom of information act may I be informed of the make and
model of automobile used to chauffeur the mayor of Croydon to functions
within your borough and beyond.

I would also like to know the mileage clocked up on this automobile in the
past two financial years."

In your response of 26 October you have asked for additional information
including price paid, seller information and odometer readings which did
not form part of your initial request and accordingly your further request
has been logged as a new Freedom of Information request.

Regards

Angela Haynes-Ranger

Legal Support Officer

Chief Executives Office

Democratic and Legal Services Department

5th Floor, Taberner House

Tel: 020 8686 4433 ext 61402

Fax: 020 8760 5679

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Book a seat for the Clocktower's autumn programme:
http://www.croydonclocktower.org.uk

Tough times need tough decisions - how would you set the council budget:
http://www.croydon.gov.uk/youchoose

Please use this web site address to view the Council's E-Mail disclaimer -
www.croydon.gov.uk/disclaimer/email.htm

Dear Mr Rucki,

Please be advised that I have forwarded your email in relation to the above request for you to be provided with a response.

Regards

Angela Haynes-Ranger
Legal Support Officer
Chief Executives Office
Democratic and Legal Services Department
5th Floor, Taberner House
Tel: 020 8686 4433 ext 61402
Fax: 020 8760 5679

show quoted sections

I refer to your email request of 3 March 2010 regarding statutory response
times for Freedom of Information Requests. It has come to our attention
that you do not appear to have received a response to your request for
which I sincerely apologise. We have now considered your request under the
terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

As you may be aware, the Council has recently reassessed the manner in
which it records and deals with Freedom of Information requests and
revised the processes and procedures used to deal with such requests. The
Council does not hold the information you have requested for the past
three years however the Council does hold data for the period 31 August to
31 October 2010 in relation to Freedom of Information requests logged as
part of this new procedure and I am able to confirm that during that
period, there were 4 requests which were not responded to within 20 days,
three of those requests were only 1 day late a fourth was unfortunately 5
days late.

Prior to 31 August 2010, the Council did not routinely seek to record in a
single place the date upon which responses were sent out and the response
times for matters which had been recorded and logged as formal FOI
requests. This was due to time and resource constraints. Historically,
information has been and continues to be held by a number of different
departments regarding responses sent for their service areas.
Accordingly, in order to respond to your request, the Council would need
to have all the relevant departments conduct a search of their records to
ascertain which FOI responses they had been involved in, who from the
relevant department had issued the response and how long it had taken to
respond to each request. The Council would need to go through a large
amount of data on its systems in order to locate, retrieve and extract the
information that you have requested. The cumulative time it would take
Council officers to do this added to the time officers have already taken
to establish whether or not the Council holds the information that you
request would exceed the "appropriate limit".

The appropriate limit has been specified in the Freedom of Information
(Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004 and for local authorities it
is set at £450. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending
2½ working days in locating, retrieving and extracting the information
from where it is stored. Under Section 12 of the FOIA the Council is not
obliged to comply with your request as it falls within the Section 12
exemption.

We appreciate that prior to the introduction of the new systems referred
to above, systems and processes in place to ensure accurate recording and
monitoring of this data were not fully effective. However we are now
taking steps to improve and make good the situation so that the Council
will provide a better service to its customers in future.

If you are dissatisfied with the way the department has handled your
request under the Freedom of Information Act, you may ask for an internal
review. Your request for internal review should be submitted to us within
40 working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request
received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the
Council. You can do this by outlining the details of your complaint and
either:

e-mailing us at [1][Croydon Borough Council request email]

faxing us on 0208 760 5679

writing to FOI Complaints, London Borough of Croydon, Democratic and
Legal Services, Croydon, CR9 3JS

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely,

Jessica Stockton

Corporate Solicitor

Democratic & Legal Services Division

Chief Executive's Office

Southside, 5^th Floor Taberner House

Park Lane, Croydon CR9 3JS

Tel: 020 8760 5768 (Ext. 61484)

Fax:02087605679

Faxination No: 02086339641

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Book a seat for the Clocktower's autumn programme:
http://www.croydonclocktower.org.uk

Find out how to save pounds by slimming your bin:
http://www.croydon.gov.uk/slimbin

Please use this web site address to view the Council's E-Mail disclaimer -
www.croydon.gov.uk/disclaimer/email.htm

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Croydon Borough Council request email]
mailto:[Croydon Borough Council request email]