Norh Linconshire Council- Common Purpose expenditure and invoices

Barrie Pegg made this Freedom of Information request to North Lincolnshire Council

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, North Lincolnshire Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

From: Barrie Pegg

24 June 2008

Dear Sir or Madam,

Dear Sir or Madam

Please detail total expenditure by North Lincolnshire Council on
Common Purpose courses for each of the following years: 1997, 1998,
1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 to
date.

Please also supply a copy of the invoice for each Common Purpose
course paid for by North Lincolnshire Council.

By "Common Purpose", I mean the training organisation of that name:
http://www.commonpurpose.org/home.aspx

Yours faithfully,

Barrie Pegg

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From: Barrie Pegg

28 July 2008

Dear Sir or Madam,

Uder the rules governing the FOI I had expected a respose to my
queries by 23rd July.

Would you please give an explanation as to why I have not yet
received a reply?

Yours sincerely,

B Pegg

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From: customerservice
North Lincolnshire Council

29 July 2008

Dear Mr Pegg

Thank you for your email as detailed below. We have checked our records
and cannot find a request from yourself, could you please resend the
request to us and to further assist us in processing quickly could you put
in the subject box Atn : J Teal. I apologise for any inconvenience that
this may cause you.

regards
Lyn Spencer
Customer Services Manager

Barrie Pegg To FOI requests at North Lincolnshire
<[FOI #817 email]> Council
<[North Lincolnshire Council request email]>
28/07/2008 12:25 cc
Subject Freedom of Information request -
Norh Linconshire Council- Common
Purpose expenditure and invoices

Dear Sir or Madam,

Uder the rules governing the FOI I had expected a respose to my
queries by 23rd July.

Would you please give an explanation as to why I have not yet
received a reply?

Yours sincerely,

B Pegg

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From: Barrie Pegg

29 July 2008

Dear customerservice,

I re-send my request for information as requested for the attention
of J. Teal

Yours sincerely,

Barrie Pegg

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29 July 2008

Sent request to North Lincolnshire Council again.

North Lincolnshire Council

31 July 2008

Attachment FOIRECEIPT JTEAL 31072008 090726.doc
28K Download View as HTML

Link to this

From: Lindsay Robinson
North Lincolnshire Council

11 August 2008

Dear Mr Pegg

Re: Freedom of Information Request – URN 254245

Thank you for your Freedom of Information Request which was received by the
council on 29 July 2008.

I set out below the information held by the council on payments made to
Common Purpose. I am unable to furnish copies of the individual invoices.

24 February 2000 1997.50
1997.50
1997.50

20 December 2000 2996.25
2996.25

21 August 2001 3055.00
9 October 2001 3055.00

3 July 2002 4230.00
5 October 2002 3600.00

11 June 2003 4406.25
10 July 2003 3750.00

19 July 2004 3600.00

9 September 2004 4523.75
4523.75

I trust this information answers your query. If you have any complaints in
respect of your information request, please contact the Complaints
Monitoring Officer or complete the on-line feedback form that can be found
at www.northlincs.gov.uk. If your complaint is not resolved to your
complete satisfaction, you have the right to apply to the Information
Commissioner for a decision.

Yours sincerely

Lindsay Robinson
Freedom of Information Co-ordinator
Executive Management

Tel: 01724 296011
Fax: 01724 296031
E-mail: [email address]

Link to this

North Lincolnshire Council

12 August 2008

Attachment FOISEMAIL JTEAL 12082008 093811.doc
28K Download View as HTML

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From: Barrie Pegg

15 August 2008

Dear Lindsay Robinson,

Thank you for the information received so far. Did the payments to
Common Purpose stop in Sept 2004?
Have you paid any monies to Common Purpose since then?
If so, please advise details.

Yours sincerely,
Barrie Pegg

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North Lincolnshire Council

18 August 2008

Attachment FOIRECEIPT JTEAL 18082008 091357.doc
28K Download View as HTML

Link to this

From: Lindsay Robinson
North Lincolnshire Council

18 August 2008

Dear Mr Pegg

Thank you for your further FOI request. I can confirm that no further
payments have been made to Common Purpose for courses after September 2004.

Yours sincerely

Lindsay Robinson
PA to Executive Management
Tel: 01724 296011
Fax: 01724 296031
E-mail: [email address]

Link to this

North Lincolnshire Council

18 August 2008

Attachment FOISEMAIL JTEAL 18082008 111111.doc
28K Download View as HTML

Link to this

From: Barrie Pegg

19 August 2008

Dear Lindsay Robinson,

Thank you for your further response. Can you confirm whether any
payments have been made to Common Purpose after Sept 2004 for any
reason i.e. anything other than course payments.

Yours sincerely,

Link to this

North Lincolnshire Council

20 August 2008

Attachment FOIRECEIPT JTEAL 20082008 100442.doc
28K Download View as HTML

Link to this

From: Lindsay Robinson
North Lincolnshire Council

20 August 2008

Dear Mr Pegg

Re: Freedom of Information Request – URN 254245

Further to your most recent enquiry dated yesterday I can confirm that the
sum of £2456.27 was paid to Common Purpose during the period October 2003
to April 2005 in respect of support to cover telephone charges.

I trust this is answers your query but as mentioned beforeif you have any
complaints in respect of your information request, please contact the
Complaints Monitoring Officer or complete the on-line feedback form that
can be found at www.northlincs.gov.uk. If your complaint is not resolved
to your complete satisfaction, you have the right to apply to the
Information Commissioner for a decision.

Lindsay Robinson
PA to Executive Management
Tel: 01724 296011
Fax: 01724 296031
E-mail: [email address]

Link to this

From: Barrie Pegg

11 September 2008

Dear Lindsay Robinson,

Please provide copies of the invoices for all payments to Common
Purpose as requested in my original email.

Yours sincerely,

Barrie Pegg

Link to this

From: Lindsay Robinson
North Lincolnshire Council

16 September 2008

Dear Mr Pegg

I refer to your e-mail dated 11 September. How would you like the copies
of the invoices sent to you. I could possibly scan them and attach them
to an e-mail or send hard copies through the post. If you would like the
latter please let me have a postal address.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

Lindsay

Lindsay Robinson
PA to Executive Management
Tel: 01724 296011
Fax: 01724 296031
E-mail: [email address]

Link to this

From: Barrie Pegg

18 September 2008

Dear Lindsay Robinson,

Please scan and email the invoices.

Yours sincerely,

Barrie Pegg

Link to this

From: Barrie Pegg

14 October 2008

Dear Lindsay Robinson,

As requested in my email to you dated 18 Sept 08, could you please
scan and email all the invoices to me.

Yours sincerely,

Barrie Pegg

Link to this

From: Lindsay Robinson
North Lincolnshire Council

16 October 2008

Attachment scanning mfd com 20081016 155119.pdf
307K Download View as HTML

Attachment scanning mfd com 20081016 155201.pdf
26K Download View as HTML

Attachment scanning mfd com 20081016 155230.pdf
26K Download View as HTML

Dar Mr Pegg

I did not receive your e-mail of 18 September. However I now enclose a
scanned copy of the invoices in my possession for your information.

(See attached file: scanning_mfd_com_20081016_155119.pdf)(See attached
file: scanning_mfd_com_20081016_155201.pdf)(See attached file:
scanning_mfd_com_20081016_155230.pdf)

(See attached file: scanning_mfd_com_20081016_155230.pdf)

You will see that the names on the two course invoices have been blanked
out. .

The council considers that this is exempt information under S.40 of the
Freedom of Information Act as personal data relating to a third party.

If you have any complaints in respect of your information request, please
write to the Complaints Monitoring Officer at the above address or complete
the on-line feedback form that can be found at www.northlincs.gov.uk. If
your complaint is not resolved to your complete satisfaction, you have the
right to apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision.

Lindsay Robinson
PA to Executive Management
Tel: 01724 296011
Fax: 01724 296031
E-mail: [email address]

Link to this

North Lincolnshire Council

17 October 2008

Attachment FOISEMAIL JTEAL 17102008 092706.doc
28K Download View as HTML

Link to this

stygian left an annotation (18 July 2010)

The invoices are made out for the attention of the Chief Executive, Simon Driver. Simon Driver was on the board of the Humber Forum and Humber Economic Partnership with Chris Burn, Senior Programme Director, Common Purpose.
There is therefore the possibility of insider dealing.
In addition, the names of course attendees are unlawfully redacted.

There are patterns emerging throughout the country.
It would be in the public interest if the following could be asked of CP-infected Councils:

"Please provide copies of the unredacted Invoices for all person who have undertaken Common Purpose training, from 2000 to the present day. Please provide the unredacted invoices for all other expenditure on Common Purpose.
For each invoice highlight:
Who attended the course ( name and position ), or what the invoice was for.
Who advised ( name and position ) that the course would be suitable for the attendee, or that the expenditure would benefit the ratepayer.
Who authorised ( name and position ) the payment of the invoice.
What was the benefit accrued to the ratepayer consequent upon these invoices paid to Common Purpose, please provide documented evidence to support your response"

Attendees have to sign a form agreeing that their name, position and employer can be used by Common Purpose for publicity purposes. Therefore, there can be no legal objection to disclosure, as attendees had every expectation that their details could be released into the public domain. Indeed, signing the disclosure release is a precondition of attending the courses.
Another pathetic excuse given is that the personnel are not high enough within the organisation, or sufficiently senior, to be in the front line of services where they could be expected to be in contact with the public. This excuse is disposed by the Common Purpose publicity - their training is for leaders and potential leaders.
Another excuse is that the Human Rights of the attendees would be breached if their details were disclosed, on the grounds that there are some nasty remarks made on the Internet, and that the attendees do not want to be exposed to the same 'alarm, distress, and risk to health, safety and mental wellbeing'. This can be dispatched with the fact that Common Purpose itself has, over the years, freely distributed the personal details of tens of thousands of its course attendees.
A more recent specious excuse is to deny the information on the grounds that it is part of a campaign, but offering no evidence linking the requester to any identified campaign. An individual pursuing an interest is not a personal campaign, but a legitimate hobby. Some bent councils attempts to deliberately misconstrue the wording of Section 14 of the Act.
Another fatuous excuse given is to deny the FoIA request on the grounds that the intent of the request is to interfere in the workings of the third party and to disrupt the workings of the requestee, whilst causing alarm and distress to those either associated with processing the FoIA request or those named. Of course, no evidence is ever produced, these are just false accusations.
There have also been examples of claims of exemption on the grounds that to obtain the information would cost too much. Such is utter tosh.
One council attempted to claim that it did not have the information, and that to obtain the information would be creating data, which it was not obliged to do. Such councils can be reminded that a) If they do not have the information readily to hand they are breaking the law, and b) CP graduates should, by law, register their interest with the Monitoring Officer ( see previous documents )

All in all, there are NO legitimate excuses for not providing the above requested information.

If you make a table of the results you will see a trail of unlawful payments, insider dealing, fraud and corruption.

A quick analysys of the earnings of Common Purpose during the tenure of the last Government is estimated at a direct £100,000,000 ( yes, that is one hundred million pounds ! ) with indirect influence, interest and control ( leading beyond authority ) approaching a billion.

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Things to do with this request

Anyone:
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