Legal Proceedings

Dear Mr. Carruthers

Thank you for your 2 requests for information regarding legal
proceedings, which were received on 2nd June, 2009 and are being dealt
with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We are therefore
required to provide you with a response within 20 working days, which
will be on or before 30th June, 2009.

If we require any clarification or further details, we will contact you
as soon as possible.

In the meantime, if you have any queries, please do not hesitate to
contact me, remembering to quote the reference number above in any
communications.

Yours sincerely

John Tillman
Swyddog Gwybodaeth a Diogelu Data
Adran y Prif Weithredwr
Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin

Information & Data Protection Officer
Chief Executive's Department
Carmarthenshire County Council

Tel: (01267) 246108
Mewnol/Internal: 6108
Ffacs/Fax: (01267) 246134

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Dear Mr Carruthers,

I refer to your request for information, which was received on 2nd June,
2009 and is being dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

In order for us to proceed, we would be most grateful if you could
provide more details regarding your request, as follows:

1. Please confirm whether the first part of your request is concerned
specifically with instructions in connection with defamation
proceedings.

2. With regard to "who is responsible for authenticating and validating
documents to identify that there had been no act of wrongdoing", please
clarify this question and explain what specific information you are
requesting.

Once we have received sufficient clarification from you to enable us to
search our records, we will be required to respond within 20 working
days.

If we do not hear from you within three months of the date of this
letter/email it will be considered that your request has been withdrawn.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me,
remembering to quote the reference number above in any communications.

Yours sincerely

John Tillman
Swyddog Gwybodaeth a Diogelu Data
Adran y Prif Weithredwr
Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin

Information & Data Protection Officer
Chief Executive's Department
Carmarthenshire County Council

Tel: (01267) 246108
Mewnol/Internal: 6108
Ffacs/Fax: (01267) 246134

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Dear Mr Carruthers,

Thank you for your prompt reply. We will therefore proceed with your
request on this basis.

Yours sincerely

John Tillman
Swyddog Gwybodaeth a Diogelu Data
Adran y Prif Weithredwr
Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin

Information & Data Protection Officer
Chief Executive's Department
Carmarthenshire County Council

Tel: (01267) 246108
Mewnol/Internal: 6108
Ffacs/Fax: (01267) 246134

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Carruthers,

I refer to your request regarding legal proceedings, which was received on
2^nd June, 2009 and has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000.

I will respond to your request in the order it was presented using
numbered points as headings for ease of reference. You confirmed on

1. Details of all solicitors and Counsel instructed by Carmarthenshire
County Council over the last five years (firm, fee and date of
instruction) at the instruction of the Chief Planning Officer (details to
include employed solicitors of the Council).

I am unable to provide this information for reasons I will explain below.

2. Details of all loans and/or sureties provided to staff and/or elected
representatives of the Council to initiate or defend legal proceedings on
their own behalf or on the Council's where the Council and its staff
believe they have been libelled.

No loans or sureties have been provided to staff or elected members to
initiate or defend legal proceedings.

3. Who is responsible for authenticating and validating documents to
identify that there has been no act of wrongdoing by the Council.

I regret that this part of your request is not sufficiently clear as to
enable us to respond. It is unclear as to what documents you are
referring to and in what circumstances these documents would be
'validated'. If you are able to provide a clear explanation, we may be
able to provide information.

4. Please identify by name and function who is the Council's registrar of
Local Land Charges.

The officer responsible for registering local land charges is the Land
Charges Manager, Mr Meredydd Edwards.

With regard to the first part of your request, under Section 12 of
the Act, a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request if it
considers that to do so would exceed the appropriate limit.  This limit
is defined in The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate
Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 as £450, which equates to 18 hours of
work at the standard rate specified in the Regulations of £25.00 per
hour.

We have identified 489 files where instructions to both barristers and
Council employed solicitors have been given regarding planning matters.
However, the reports we are able to produce from our system do not show
whether or not the instruction was given by the Chief Planning Officer (or
Head of Planning). To establish this would entail manually checking each
paper file, which would represent a significant amount of work.

We have calculated that to comply with this part of your request
would take over 40 hours, based on a conservative estimate of 5 minutes
per file. This would far exceed the above limit. 

 

In accordance with Section 17 (5) of the Act, I am hereby giving you
notice that as it would exceed the appropriate limit, we will be unable
to comply with this part of your request.

We could provide you with information specifically regarding instructions
to barristers on planning matters, however, this would be on planning
matters, as opposed to instructions from the Head of Planning. Please do
not hesitate to contact me should you wish to discuss refocussing your
request.

If you are unhappy with the way in which your request has been dealt
with, you are entitled to complain in the first instance to:

The Head of Administration & Law

Carmarthenshire County Council

County Hall

Carmarthen

SA31 1JP

If you remain unhappy with any subsequent decision, you have the right to
appeal to the Information Commissioner to rule on your complaint.  You
may contact him at:

Information Commissioner

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact
me.

 

Yours sincerely

John Tillman
Swyddog Gwybodaeth a Diogelu Data
Adran y Prif Weithredwr
Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin

Information & Data Protection Officer
Chief Executive's Department
Carmarthenshire County Council

Tel: (01267) 246108
Mewnol/Internal: 6108
Ffacs/Fax: (01267) 246134

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