Meetings between Senior members of the Council and Governors from Overton Grange School

Dear Mr Martin

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST - REF NO - 1740
(please quote in correspondence)

I acknowledge your request for information received on 11 September 2009.

Your request is being considered and you will receive the information
requested within the statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by
the Freedom of Information Act 2000, subject to the information not being
exempt or containing a reference to a third party.

However we would appreciate you providing some clarification of the time
period you are referring to or the particular complaint. I am sure you are
aware the legislation allows us to limit the amount of officer time we
spend dealing with a request, so it is helpful if the requestor can be as
precise as possible about the information they are requesting.

If appropriate, the information may be provided in paper copy, normal font
size. If you require alternative formats, e.g. language, audio, large
print, etc. then please let me know.

For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions which may
prevent release of the information you have requested. There will be an
assessment and if any of the exemption categories apply then the
information will not be released. You will be informed if this is the
case, including your rights of appeal.

If the information you request contains reference to a third party then
they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken on whether or not to
release the information to you. You will be informed if this is the case.

A fee may be payable for this information. This will be considered and you
will be informed if a fee is payable. In this event the fee must be paid
before the information is processed and released. The 20 working day time
limit for responses is suspended until receipt of the payment.

Yours sincerely

FOI Admin Officer

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Dear Mr Martin

Freedom of Information Request - REF: 1740 - Internal Review

Please find below our findings to our Internal Review of your FOI request.
I sincerely apologise for the delay in responding.

Your request for "...details of the meeting(s) that have taken place
between senior members of the Council and any Governors or individual
Governors from Overton Grange School in relation to a proposed complaint
to made against the Council by the school and/or the Governing Body or its
members. I am particularly interested to know the dates of such meetings,
the minutes recorded, the persons present" has been refused under section
42 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) because it is protected
by legal professional privilege.

As part of the duty to confirm or deny I can confirm that the information
you refer to is held by the local authority and that it relates to a
confidential legal matter which falls under the two categories of legal
professional privilege, namely litigation privilege and legal advice
privilege.

Following the application of the public interest test it has been
concluded that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs
the public interest in disclosure. The following factors were relevant in
reaching this conclusion:

1. It is necessary to safeguard openness in all communications
between client and lawyer to ensure full and frank legal advice, which is
fundamental to the administration of justice as recognised in the case of
Bellamy v Information Commissioner (EA/2005/0023: 4 April 2006);

2. Decisions by public authorities must be taken in a fully informed
legal context;

3. Public authorities require confidential legal advice for the
effective performance of their operations and that advice must be given by
lawyers who are fully apprised of the factual background.

I am therefore unable to uphold your appeal and we are unable to provide
the information you have requested. If you remain dissatisfied with our
response you have the right to make a complaint to the Information
Commissioner, pursuant to section 50 of the FOIA. The contact details are:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625-545-700
[1]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Regards

Natalie

Natalie Morgan

Corporate Customer Care Officer

Policy and Communications Team

Chief Executive's Group

London Borough of Sutton

Civic Offices

St Nicholas Way, Sutton SM1 1EA

Tel: 020 8770 6380

FAX: 020 8770 5404

www.sutton.gov.uk

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