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Internal review request sent to Cambridgeshire County Council by Richard Taylor on 8 June 2009.
Request to Cambridgeshire County Council by Richard Taylor. Annotated by Richard Taylor on 17 April 2009.
Acknowledgement by Cambridgeshire Constabulary to Richard Taylor on 16 September 2008.
The UK Youth Parliament in Cambridgeshire
A Freedom of Information request to Cambridgeshire County Council by Richard Taylor
The request was partially successful.
Richard Taylor
5 November 2009
I would like to make a freedom of information request for documents
relating to Cambridgeshire County Council's work in connection with
the UK Youth Parliament (UKYP):
Could you please release:
1. Documents describing the current election procedure for members
of the UKYP (and deputy members) representing Cambridgeshire.
2. The fraction of Cambridgeshire schools participating in
elections for the members of the UKYP for Cambridgeshire;
preferably broken down into state and independent schools. I would
like this information for elections held in the last three years.
3. The number of votes cast, and the size of the electorate, by
each UKYP "constituency" within the county, again for the last
three elections.
4. A list of all local boards, committees, panels, assemblies etc.
on which Cambridgeshire County Council is aware members of the UKYP
are currently represented alongside elected councillors.
--
Richard Taylor
Cambridge
http://www.rtaylor.co.uk
Richard Taylor left an annotation (5 November 2009)
Some background to this request is available in a comment I have made at:
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debate/?id...
--
Richard Taylor
Cambridge
http://www.rtaylor.co.uk
Richard Taylor left an annotation (6 November 2009)
On Friday 6th of November I had a phone call from Clare Bruges, Youth Participation Co-ordinator at the County Council.
She said she had been asked by one of the Cambridgeshire Members of the Youth Parliament to reply to my questions, the web-link to which she had been given. I said that I would like a formal response by email, and explained that I had made a freedom of information request.
Addressing my questions in anycase she initially said twice that the UKYP elections are run via "all the schools"; but when I queried this she said that only about 40% of schools participate, but that participation is open to all schools.
The council officer said the electoral system was "not a perfect system", after saying that she strengthened her words describing the UKYP electoral system in the county as having "huge flaws". She stated that another group she runs at the council, a "Youth Assembly" to which members are not elected, is more democratic. I was also directed to a website run by the council at http://www.youthoria.org which the officer claimed answers some of my questions.
I was asked to explain where my request was "coming from". I explained my interest in the UKYP along the lines as I have at:
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debate/?id...
She said she liked the idea of a statutory basis for the UKYP and school councils, but thought we were a very long way away from that at the moment. She suggested Andy Hamflett, Chief Executive of the UKYP would be interested in my views, and said he was "in the pocket of the government, friends with the government", I believe she was suggesting by that he might be a good person to lobby for change through.
I believe this is an accurate reflection of our phone conversation. I am posting it here as it forms a key part of my exchange with the council following this FOI request.
--
Richard Taylor
Cambridge
http://www.rtaylor.co.uk
Rogers Dawn
Cambridgeshire County Council
4 December 2009
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If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to
your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our
decision, you should write to Nicola Graves, Customer Service Manager,
c/o Information Governance Team, Box RES 1405, Shire Hall, Cambridge CB3
0AP within 40 days of the date of this letter.
If you are not content with the outcome your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints
procedure provided by the Council. The Information Commissioner can be
contacted at: The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely
Paul Ainsworth
Communications Manager
Email: [email address]
The information in this email is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you receive this email by mistake please notify the sender and delete it immediately. Opinions expressed are those of the individual and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Cambridgeshire County Council. All sent and received email from Cambridgeshire County Council is automatically scanned for the presence of computer viruses and security issues.
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steven left an annotation (5 November 2009)
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