Dear Sir or Madam,

I am interested in the recent decision by the Chief Executive of
Plymouth City Council to restrict the use of Twitter for Council
staff and Councillors.

Please can you release and send all emails, correspondence and
written documents relating to this decision and relating to the
Council's use of Twitter.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Luke Pollard

Dear Mr Pollard

SUBJECT: Acknowledgement of your application for Information dated
23 June 2009
Thank you for your email requesting information about the Council's
restrictions on the use of Twitter.

The application was received on 23 June 2009.
The Council will seek to provide the information that you have requested
within the next 20 working days or let you know from where else it can be
obtained. We may not be able to provide everything if we do not hold the
information, or if an exemption to releasing the information applies.

Information is often provided free of charge, but if there could be a fee
for processing and delivering the information to you this will notified to
you before we progress.

We will usually provide the information in either an electronic or paper
format according to how you contacted us. If you require the information
in another specific format please contact me to discuss your needs.

Any future correspondence or questions you may have in relation to this
matter should be sent to me at the email address below.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Pearson
Member Support Officer

Andrew Pearson
Member Support Officer
Member Support Team
Corporate Support Directorate
Plymouth City Council

Tel: (01752) 304139
Email: [email address]

Dear Luke Pollard

Your application for information about "the recent decision by the Chief
Executive of Plymouth City Council to restrict the use of Twitter for
Council staff and Councillors" which was received by the Council on 23
June 2009 has now been considered and this letter is a full response to
that application.

The Council does not hold any recorded information about the use of
`Twitter' apart from the message to staff that is enclosed. There is also
other information available on the website of the local paper for Tuesday,
June 23, 2009, at

[1]http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/politics...

and Thursday, June 18, 2009 at
[2]http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/politics...

There is no further recorded information to provide, as there is no
reference to `Twitter' within any ICT Policy documents and the decision
that was taken by the Chief Executive to ban the use of `Twitter' followed
verbal discussion within the Council.

The Chief Executive took the decision to end current access to `Twitter'
from the Council system following verbal complaints received about the
language used by Cllrs Evans and Stevens on a Twitter page which was
publicly accessible.

Please note that the information supplied to you continues to be protected
by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for
your own purposes, including any noncommercial research you are doing and
for the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse such as commercial
publication would require the permission of the Council as all rights are
reserved.

If you are not satisfied with the way your request has been handled or if
you disagree with the exemptions that have been applied, you may ask for
an internal review to take place.

If you wish to discuss this letter or the information that is supplied
then please contact me through via 01752 304139, but please leave a
contact telephone number if I am unavailable. I can also be contacted by
email [email address].

Yours sincerely

Andrew Pearson
Member Support Officer

References

Visible links
1. http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/politics...
2. http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/politics...